The Universe of Pikmin
by Keifren1ooo
Summary: Keith, a teenage boy, volunteers to explore a newly discovered universe but crashes on an unknown planet. He finds the Pikmin who help Keith find his Emergency Devices to escape. Keith has the ability to change into a Pikmin at will and uses this ability to understand and learn about the Pikmin. Note: Has spoilers of all 3 Pikmin games and contains characters owned by kingalex1234.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_**Logbook, Day 1- approximately 12:00 P.M.**_

_While in space, I had detected a planet that highly resembled Earth. I decided to go and investigate this planet. As I had initiated the landing sequence for my ship, however, the ship had a grave malfunction and crashed before I was able to land. I must have been knocked out from the crash, as I have just now regained conscious, and I see the debris of my ship next to me. **It is beyond repair**. I have also noticed that all three of my emergency devices, the Form Changer, the Communications Device, and the Wormhole Transmitter have gone missing. The form I am taking right now provides me with 30 days of life support. I am going to have to find my Emergency Devices within that time span, or I may not be able to return home. I will set off now in search of them. In the mean time, I may as well take notice of the planet's geography. This place is strikingly similar to Earth. I wonder if I will find any humans here, or maybe some new life-forms._

* * *

**_Before the_ _Crash..._**

"Keith, we found it! The discovery of whole other universes. Some of them are as large as ours, some even larger and more ancient!"

That isn't me. That was my friend, mid-teen Max, screaming his head off as he ran down the hall toward me. I guess I shouldn't make fun of him though. I was also a little excited when he announced this news to me. I won't disclose my real name, so I'll be called Keith. I'm your mostly average mid-teenager. Notice the "mostly"? My past is complicated, and I also have slight amnesia, so my past is best left for another story.

"You found it?! I was reluctant to give the task, because I wasn't even sure if they existed. Good job!"

Max beamed one of his usual overly-happy smiles, then set off to show me the proof.

I know you're probably very confused right now, so I'll explain. I'll keep it short and simple because I did tell you that my past was complicated.

As I said, I'm a regular, teenage boy, born on planet Earth. After a series of events, I and a group of others about my age had created a science team, with me as the leader. Our biggest goal was to find the existence of other universes. You know how our universe is very, very big, right? With clusters of galaxies all bunched up in the giant space we call the universe. Well, we believed that there were other universes out there, maybe some being as large as ours (we had our reasons for believing this, which I will not disclose). It looks like Max was able to finally find these other universes. He explained the details to me.,

"We found out that these other universes could be accessed via going through a wormhole. We managed to find out how to create these wormholes, and now we could go to these other universes! Of course, you're going to go and investigate these universes like you said, right Keith?" Max asked.

"Yeah, of course." I replied

When we first created the group, I was the one who volunteered to explore the universes, if we ever discovered them.

"When will I be able to go, Max? Would today be all right?"

"Sure! But first, we need to set up a few things before you go."

He led me into a room which we called the "Main Quarters." It was a spacious, colorful room. I saw other member of the group in here, who all waved or smiled or did some other friendly gesture at me.

"This is the ship where you will be exploring, Keith." Max showed me a decent-sized ship which, on the outside, looked like a large, white, ball of metal on a tripod. The inside was the size of a small room, with white walls and the control panel at the front.

"Before you go, I'll need to give you these." Max said. He handed me three devices. One looked like a tablet, one looked like an old fashioned cell phone with a giant screen, and one looked like a round ball with a small antennae on the top.

"These are your Emergency Devices. Make sure not to lose these. Let me explain what they do. This one," Max pointed at the device that looked like a tablet "is called the Form Changer. It lets you scan any living thing, then will turn your body into the thing you just scanned."

"This thing," Max pointed at the device that looked like an old fashioned cell phone "is called the Communications Device. It allows you to contact us anywhere.

"And finally, this thing" Max pointed at the round ball "is called the Wormhole Transmitter. It will allow you to return here from any universe. These devices are extremely important, _especially_ the Wormhole Transmitter. They will adjust to your size, but you must _not_ lose them. Did you get all that?"

I nodded my head.

"Now, there's one more thing we need to do." Max led me into a small room at the side of the Main Quarters. The room had a large machine at the corner of the room.

"That device" Max explained, pointing to the machine at the corner of the room "is a larger, more advanced version of the Form Changer you hold. This Advanced Form Changer will scan the entire universe you will first explore in just a few seconds. The device will then determine the most successful living thing in that universe, and then transform your body into that living thing."

I said that I understood, and in the next few minutes, my body was transformed. I had turned into a guy dressed in a space suit. I had unusually large ears and a large nose. An antenna stuck out from the top of my helmet. The problem was, I was only an inch tall. Luckily, the emergency devices had shrunk with my body, and the scientists were able to shrink my ship so that I could still use it. In a few minutes, I was off. The scientists had created a wormhole that I went through, and in the blink of an eye, I was on the other side, in another universe.

When the wormhole closed behind me, I noticed I was in deep space, so I set off.

Immediately, I noticed a planet that looked similar to Earth. I set up the landing sequence for my ship, but as I had got into low orbit of the planet, the ship began to show grave messages on the screens.

_Warning: Thruster Malfunction  
__Warning: Steering Malfunction  
Warning: Radiation Critical! Evacuate Immediately!_

"I have to contact the team!" I fumbled with the Communication Device Max had given me, but just as I had turned it on... _***Boom!* **_I don't remember anything after that boom. I think I had blacked out.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and I do not work for Nintendo of any kind. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author**: Sorry that there are no Pikmin in this chapter, but it's just the prologue! There are Pikmin in the next chapter, though. Just an FYI, the story takes place after the events of Pikmin 3. Also, doesn't the ship crashing seem familiar?


	2. Day 1, Part 1

**Day 1, Part 1 – Colorful Creatures**

Keith woke up and found himself in a lush, green environment. It looked nice, until he looked to his right and saw the debris of his ship. Keith instantly jumped up, looked at the ship, and panicked. "Oh no! The ship! How am I able to contact the science team, or get back home?" Just then he remembered the emergency devices. He searched what remained of the ship, but with no luck. "Great, looks like I'm going to have to look around for the devices. Huh? What's this...?" Keith noticed a little counter attached to his life vest. It looked sort of like a geiger counter. At the top, the counter said, in another language, _Life Support System_. At the bottom of the counter a little needle was pointing to what said _30 days_. Keith assumed this to mean that the life vest would keep him going for 30 days, and if that time ran out... he preferred not to think about it right now. Keith also noticed that he was able to understand the language that the counter was written in. Keith remembered that he was able to do this because, when he changes into another form, he inherits the knowledge of the organism's language, although Keith didn't understand what the language was called.

"I may as well go and search for the emergency devices." Before he did that, though, Keith quickly made an entry in his logbook about what had happened on this first day. The logbook was a microchip that the team had embedded into Keith's mind, allowing Keith to make journal entries mentally.

When Keith was finished, he set off to look for the emergency devices. As he walked, Keith took note of the surrounding geography. Everything looked so similar to Earth, yet also different because Keith was only an inch tall. The grass towered above him, and the flowers looked like skyscrapers.

Keith walked for a few hours. His feet were starting to ache, and he was starting to get exhausted and hungry. When Keith checked the ship a few hours earlier, all of his supplies were either missing or had been destroyed from the crash. Based on where the sun was in the sky, Keith estimated that it was about 4 P.M. Keith wondered if this planet followed a 24-hour day. Earth had a 24-hour day, and this place looked like Earth, so he assumed so. As Keith moved aside another patch of grass, Keith saw a sight on the other side greatly surprised him.

On the other side, were these colorful creatures playing around on an open field. They were about his size and they all either had a leaf, flower, or a closed flower on their head. They looked like a cross between plant and animal, and like a human, had two arms and two legs. Keith spotted 7 different colors; red, blue, yellow, white, purple, pink, and greyish. At the center of the field was a large, onion shaped, colorful orb that stood on three legs. Keith's immediate thought was to go out and observe these creatures, but he held back. What if they were hostile? Before Keith could step back out of sight, however, one of the red creatures spotted him. He seemed to make a noise to the other creatures. Soon, all the creatures had stopped what they were doing and were staring at Keith with their beady eyes.

Keith stood still. He suddenly became very nervous, but the creatures weren't attacking him, so Keith decided to step forward. He took about two steps, when the red creature that first saw him started walking toward him. Keith unintentionally took a step back, and Keith noticed that his vest had a whistle attached to the helmet. He wondered what would happen if he blew into it. Could he scare the creatures away? Keith took a large breath and blew loudly into the whistle.

All at once, all the creatures surged toward him. Keith was so shocked that he fell back and simply stared in shock. _This it it. My life ends here. _Keith thought. After a while however, Keith noticed that he wasn't being attacked. All the creatures had simply grouped around him and stared at him. Keith stood up cautiously and looked around. All the creatures were staring at him as if they were expecting something. Keith decided to say something simple.

"Hi." They were still staring but they tilted their heads, as if trying to listen to him. "I don't know if you can understand me, but my name is Keith." They still stood staring, so Keith decided to keep moving. He went up to the large onion-shaped thing, while the creatures followed him.

_They're kind of cute, but they're also a bit unnerving, with all of them staring. Why do they keep following me? Do they want something, or do they think I'm their leader or something? They also seem very familiar, as if I had seem them back at the Human Universe. I wish I didn't have amnesia... _Keith thought this as he walked toward the strange, colorful onion-shaped thing. When Keith got to the onion-shaped thing, he examined the large object. _This thing looks very strange. I wonder what is it. Is it related to these creatures? Hey, what's that?_ Keith noticed something in the branches of the tree to the right of the onion-shaped thing. In the high branches of the tree, Keith spotted one of his emergency devices, the Form Changer.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author**: Yay, cliffhanger! :) I know that it's odd that I suddenly switched to third-person. The rest of the story will be in third-person. Part 2 of Day 1 will be much more interesting than this part, _especially_ once Keith gets that Form Changer. I should hopefully get Part 2 finished this week.


	3. Day 1, Part 2

**Day 1, Part 2 – The Pikmin's Perspective**

_**Logbook, Day 1 – approximately 5:00 P.M.**_

_ While searching this planet, I have wandered into a large field, where I came across a large group of these cute, colorful creatures that are about my height (about .80 inch). There are about 50 of them. They seem to be part animal, and part plant, and they don't seem hostile. I blew into a whistle provided by this life vest, and all the creatures formed a group beside me and follow me wherever I go. Along with these creatures, there is also a large, colorful, onion-shaped orb that stands on three legs at the center of the field. It is about four times my height, and I am not sure if it is related to these creatures of any kind. _

_ I have also noticed that one of my Emergency Devices, the Form Changer, is stuck in the branches of a tree to the right of the onion-shaped thing. Unfortunately, the branch supporting the device is about 1½ feet in the air (remember, I am only an inch tall). The branch is too high for me to reach and the trunk of this tree is too thick to climb. If I can just get my hands on that device, I'll be able to turn into one of these creatures, and maybe I'll learn a little bit more about them._

Keith decided to record this information into his logbook. He wanted more than anything to get that device. Keith wondered if he can get the creatures to help him.

"Hey!" Keith yelled at the creatures "Do you see that up there?" Keith pointed to the device in the branch. "That's mine. I don't think I can get it. Can you help me...?"

Just to make sure, Keith pointed at the device and blew into his whistle. The creatures all at once seemed to understand this. Most of the creatures went under the branch where the device was, stared at it, and made a sort of sighing noise, probably because they couldn't reach it either. A few of the pink ones, however, were able to fly up there and grab the device.

_Those pink ones seem to be the only ones that can fly. Maybe each of these creatures have different traits, based on their color. _Keith thought.

A few of the pink creatures that grabbed the device returned to Keith and dropped the device at his feet. Keith picked it up, and unintentionally, a smile appeared in Keith's face. He suddenly became very excited to turn into one of these creatures. Maybe he'd be able to understand them. Did they have a language? There was only one way to find out.

Keith turned on the device and looked around at the group of creatures. What kind should he turn into? He could turn into a pink one; it would be very useful to be able to fly, but Keith decided to go with something simple, so he scanned a red one with a flower on its head, and when it was finished scanning, a button on the device appeared asking Keith if he wanted to change form.

Now there was one tiny problem that Keith realized. He couldn't just change form in front of the creatures. They would probably freak out, for all Keith knew. He needed to find an isolated place where he would be able to change form, but how could he do that with all these creatures following him?

Keith decided to try something with his whistle. He remembered that, back on Earth, if a whistle was blown three times, then a group would be dismissed. Would that work on these creatures too?

Keith took a deep breath and blew into his whistle three quick times. To Keith's surprise, the creatures soon began to disperse and go back to playing around in the field. _It actually worked._ Keith thought as he watched a group of the blue-colored creatures jump into a pond on the other side of the field.

Keith walked back to the patch of grass where he first entered the field. From there, he walked about thirty steps away from the field and stopped.

Keith took his Form Changer back out, where the button that asked if he wanted to change form was still visible. Keith tapped the button, and he once again felt the odd sensation of his body changing.

When Keith regained sensation, it was about 6:00 P.M. Keith looked down at himself. His whole body was now red and he could feel the flower that was on top of his head. To Keith's left, the Form Changer lay on the ground. On the screen it said, _Transformation Complete. Process is a Success. Device has shrunk to meet with the standards of the new host._

Keith began to wonder where he should keep the device. He didn't have any pockets, and if he held it with him everywhere, the other creatures may notice, and it would be an inconvenience.

Keith looked around. He grabbed a few pieces of grass, some sticks, and some dirt. In about 30 minutes, Keith was able to make a very simple satchel in which he placed the Form Changer in. Keith noticed that the sky was now getting very dark.

_ I should hurry back to the field, it looks like its almost night time. Maybe the creatures, have a shelter of some sort? Hopefully I'll be able to blend in with them._

In a minute, Keith made it back to the field. He saw all the creatures now gathered up by the onion-shaped thing. Some were crawling up its legs and entering little holes in the orb.

But there was one thing that, although Keith expected it, still shocked him to witness it. **He could now understand what the creatures were saying.**

Keith caught bits and pieces of information, "We should tell the others that there's a new Captain!" "Where's Aqua? Is he still at the pond?" "My flower is prettier than yours!"

Keith saw one of the red creatures, the one he had scanned, yelling at the other creatures, "All right! All Pikmin get back into the Onion! We'll lift off in a few minutes. Make sure no Pikmin gets left behind!"

Keith was a bit confused at first. Pikmin? Onion? After a few seconds of thought, Keith assumed that "Pikmin" was what these creatures called themselves, and "Onion" was the onion-shaped thing which Keith assumed was where these creatures lived. But how could all these creatures, er- Pikmin fit into that small orb?

Keith decided to go with the flow and blend in with the group. Hopefully no one would notice his satchel.

Of course, one of the Pikmin did notice. It was the red one that noticed him, the one who was yelling earlier. Keith assumed he was the leader of the group.

"Hey, you!" Keith stopped and stared at the red-colored Pikmin "You look new. I don't think I've seen you before."

_How can you tell? _Keith thought, _All of you look mostly the same to me, with the exception of color._ Keith stopped himself from saying this out loud though. He decided to just lie about where he came from.

"I came from a place farther away from here" Keith said.

"Another place?" The Pikmin asked, "I didn't know there were other Onions besides this one."

Keith didn't know how to answer that, so he just kept silent.

"Well, I guess I won't question you further about that further," the Pikmin said "So, what's your name?"

Name? Keith didn't really think about a name until now. He didn't think he should say that his name was Keith, because maybe the Pikmin might recognize that from when Keith first introduced himself back in his other form. He decided to make up a name.

"My name is Kindle." Keith thought this was appropriate, as he had an interest in fire, he was the color red, and it started with the letter K. "What's your name?" Keith asked the Pikmin.

"I'm Flare! I was the first Pikmin that Captain Olimar plucked."

_Whose Captain Olimar? _Keith thought. He decided he would ask this later.

Flare stared at the satchel Keith was holding. "What's that?"

"Oh, um... it's a bag where I keep my stuff."

"What's inside it?

"Just stuff..." Keith didn't want to go into detail just yet. Maybe, when he gained all the Pikmin's trust, he would be able to tell them the truth about how Keith came from another universe and all that.

Flare swept his gaze around the field. "It looks like all the other Pikmin made it into the Onion. We should get in too."

Flare grabbed on to one of the legs of the Onion, and climbed up into a hole leading into the Onion. Keith followed him. When Keith got inside, he looked up and was amazed.

The inside of the Onion was _huge_. It looked like you were inside of a giant, colorful dome. A long tube at the center of the Onion stretched from the floor to the ceiling. There were even some windows on the floor and on the walls. This place looked like it could fit hundreds of Pikmin. Why did only a group of 50 live here then?

Flare must have noticed Keith gaping, because he then said, "Never been inside of an Onion, Kindle?"

Keith didn't realize that Flare was talking to him at first. _I'll need to get used to this new name. _He thought.

Keith responded to Flare by saying, "Huh? Oh, well no. I haven't."

"That's odd. Were you recently plucked? That must be it." Flare said. "Here, I'll show you around and give you a heads-up on everything."

Keith followed him around the Onion, although Keith still had many questions on him. _What did Flare mean when he said that I was "recently plucked?" And who was Captain Olimar?_ Keith watched many of the other groups of Pikmin talking, playing, running around, or doing something. Keith heard them talking, but was too tired to pay attention.

_I guess I'll just ask Flare the questions tomorrow. I'm tired anyways._

Keith asked Flare "Hey. Where do you guys sleep here?"

"Just on the floor." Flare said. "Are you tired already?"

"Yeah." Keith said bye to Flare and looked around for a place to sleep. He picked a spot that was by the large tube at the center of the Onion. Just as he began to lay down, though, Keith started to feel the entire Onion shake. Keith looked out through one of the windows on the floor, and saw that the ground was shrinking. Keith realized that the Onion was somehow flying into the air. He rushed back to Flare.

"Flare!" Keith found him with a group of yellow Pikmin.

"Flare, what's happening? The Onion is FLYING THROUGH THE AIR!"

Flare didn't seem to fazed by this, which made Keith more confused.

"Didn't you know that the Onion launches at night?" Flare said. "It's so we can avoid nocturnal creatures that hunt us during the night."

"Oh..." Keith said. The yellow Pikmin were looking at Keith strangely. Keith even woke up some of the Pikmin that were sleeping, and were staring at Keith. Keith became very embarrassed, and he felt his cheeks getting very warm. He hadn't intended to make a scene. Maybe he shouldn't have acted so shocked...

"Y'know, for a Pikmin, you don't seem to know much about being a Pikmin." Flare said. Keith felt like a told-off child.

Flare continued, "That reminds me, did you know that a new captain has arrived?"

"Huh?" Keith was glad the subject had changed, but he was also a bit confused. Was Flare talking about...

"He came a few hours before you arrived. He might be able to repopulate our species again!"

Keith assumed that Flare was talking about Keith himself. He noticed how Flare called him a "captain."

"Well, I'll tell you more about it tomorrow. Why don't you go back to sleep, Kindle?

Keith agreed to this, and walked back to his sleeping spot. He lied down and Keith used his satchel as a pillow. He felt the little bump of the Form Changer sticking through his bag.

For a few minutes Keith couldn't go to sleep. His mind was filled with all the events that this day. _Did all this really happen in one day? _Keith thought_._ _Was I really just coming through the wormhole just this morning, only for all this to happen?_

These thought whirled around Keith's mind. Fatigue eventually took over, however, and Keith fell into a sleep with dreams of flowers and colors and smoke.

_**Somewhere else...**_

Somewhere else, a group of five people, all dressed the same as Keith in his space suit form, were walking toward a large pillar of smoke in the sky.

"This is where I saw the crash, everyone!" A girl exclaimed. "Over there! Look at the debris of that ship!"

They saw the wreckage of a ship in a small space surrounded by grass.

"Why don't you go check out the ship, Alph?" This was the girl again, signaling to a young boy in the group.

"Got it." The boy went and investigated the ship.

One of the group members, dressed in blue with a bit of blond hair, made a sigh and said "Why do I always have to come along on these adventures to this planet?" He said to himself out loud.

Another group member answered him, "Would you rather be working away for the president, Louie?"

The blond-haired group member sighed again. "I guess not..."

After a few seconds, the boy had finished his analysis on the destroyed ship. "This ship had just crashed recently." He said.

"Well we know _that_. I saw it crash this morning." The girl remarked.

The boy shot the the girl an annoyed look, then continued to speak.

"This ship is also unrepairable. If someone was in the ship, then that person must have wandered off somewhere else."

The girl began to look around. Then suddenly signaled to the rest of the group.

"Look everyone! There are treads here in the dirt, leading out this way. They must be footprints!"

They all examined the treads created in the dirt, which were no doubt footprints.

One of the group members, who had a mohawk and a star on his space vest, spoke up.

"We'll follow these footprints tomorrow. It's getting very dark right now, so let's head back to the S.S. Drake and resume our search tomorrow."

They all agreed on this, and they headed back toward their ship.

One of the group members, who had a large nose and three tufts of hair, said, "Well that adds to our list of things to do on this planet. One, to find some fruit. Two, to find the Pikmin. And three, to find this mysterious person. It looks like we'll have a long day tomorrow."

The whole group thought about this, as they stepped inside their ship.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author**: I had to make this first day two parts so I would be able to introduce everything, for those of you who were wondering.


	4. Day 2

**Note: There are some spoilers for all three Pikmin games in this chapter.**

* * *

**Day 2 – Captains and Colors**

When Keith woke up, he felt that something was wrong.

Nothing looked wrong though. Groups of Pikmin were milling about the Onion, and a handful were still dreaming away, but Keith still felt as if something was missing. He reached for his satchel, and that's when Keith realized.

The usual bump that was in his satchel was missing. Keith frantically searched inside, but the Form Changer was gone. _Where did it go? It was just here last-_

"Hey! What is this thing?" Keith spun around to a voice behind him, and he saw a white Pikmin waving around the Form Changer.

Keith's heart dropped. How did that white Pikmin steal the device in his sleep? "Hey!" Keith yelled with a tone of anger in his voice. "Give me that back!" Keith lunged after the white Pikmin, but he swiftly dodged out of the way. "You're going to have to catch me to get it!" the white Pikmin yelled with a tone of mockery in his voice, and then he ran off.

Keith, with satchel in hand, ran after the white Pikmin as fast as he could. They ran around in a counter-clockwise motion around the Onion, but the white Pikmin was just too quick. In a few moments, the white Pikmin was already miles ahead of Keith. Keith slowed down, and yelled with all of his frustration in his voice, "GIVE ME THAT BACK! YOU STOLE IT! IT'S MINE!" The white Pikmin wasn't fazed by this, and simply turned around and taunted Keith again.

"Ugh..." Keith stopped and, head drooping, walked back to the tube at the center of the Onion where his sleeping spot was. Keith had managed to wake up all the Pikmin that were still sleeping, and the majority that were already awake stopped what they were doing, and watched the spectacle that went between Keith and the white Pikmin. Keith had managed to make a scene in the Onion... again.

Keith plopped back down on his sleeping spot. The white Pikmin slowly walked back to where Keith was. "I still have your thing," the white Pikmin mocked, while he waved the Form Changer in front of Keith's face and kept a smug look on his face. At least, he looked smug to Keith even though the only discernible facial feature the white Pikmin had were its large red eyes.

Keith ignored the white Pikmin and simply looked away. _Who cares if he presses something and changes form? Let him turn into the space suit form, for all I care._ Anger usually did this to Keith. He would become devoid of the world, and would usually ignore the consequences that would happen if he didn't put things straight.

"Poyson, stop it! I thought you quit being a prankster long ago!" It was a female voice to Keith's left. He and the white Pikmin looked in the direction of the voice and saw a yellow Pikmin walking toward them.

The white Pikmin made a slight rolling motion with his head, kind of like what people do when they roll their eyes. "C'mon Electra! We haven't had a newbie in a while. Just let me have my fun this time!"

The yellow Pikmin, who Keith assumed was Electra, folded her arms. "No. Now give him back his thing and leave him alone." The white Pikmin, who Keith assumed was Poyson, made a sort of growling noise. He faced Keith and threw the Form Changer squarely in Keith's chest, knocking him over. Then Poyson stormed off as if it was Keith's fault that his fun was ruined.

Keith's was still dazed when Electra looked over him. "Are you okay?" she asked. "Yeah... I'm fine." He wasn't fine though. Keith had woken up with the most rude awakening he's ever had in years. He placed his Form Changer back in his satchel.

"Don't mind him." Electra said. "He likes to pick on those that were recently plucked. His name's Poyson, but a lot of us call him Poy, for short. I'm Electra by the way!"

"I'm Kei- er, Kindle." Keith just barely managed to catch himself from saying his real name.

"Cool name! I was one of the early yellow Pikmin that Captain Olimar plucked!"

Keith thought that it was probably time to start asking questions. "Whose Captain Olimar?" Keith asked.

"Oh! I keep forgetting that you're new. Do you want me to tell you?" Keith said yes. "Well, Captain Olimar is this person that crashed on this planet with his space ship from space." _Well that sounds familiar_. Keith thought. "At the time, our species was extinct, and when that happens, the Onion here," Electra gestured around the entire Onion, "produces a single Pikmin seed. After the seed grew, Captain Olimar plucked the Pikmin out of the ground, and Flare came out. He called him a Pikmin, and the name stuck."

_So that's what Flare meant yesterday about being the first plucked Pikmin. _Keith thought. Electra continued, "After finding this out, Captain Olimar managed to repopulate our species with Flare and the Onion."

"How did he do that?" Keith asked. Electra's eyes grew wide and she stared at Keith. "You don't _know_ how we reproduce? Even for a newbie, you_ should_ know." Keith became a little embarrassed and simply stayed silent, avoiding Electra's gaze. She explained anyways. "Well we reproduce by killing creatures. We then carry their corpse back to the Onion, and the Onion uses the corpse's nutrients to create more Pikmin seeds. The seeds go through the tube at the center of the Onion, and then out the top, where it falls to the ground and grows into a Pikmin."

Keith stared at Electra with a horrified expression. That sounded like an awful way to reproduce. Sure, the human way of reproduction was icky, but the Pikmin way of reproduction just sounded downright cruel. Electra noticed Keith's expression, and laughed. "The look on your face! C'mon, it's not _that_ bad. Besides, if we don't kill these creatures first, then they kill us by eating us.

_That's a horrible way of life. _Keith thought. _But if it's nature in this world, then I guess I'll have to accept it_. Keith had never experienced this kind of way of life. Even if he did experience it, it was before Keith had amnesia.

"Anyways, back to Captain Olimar." Electra said. "After he repopulated our species, we helped him by finding his ship parts so he can escape the planet. Along with the red Pikmin, he also found us yellows, and the blue Pikmin. In turn for helping him find his ship parts, he taught us how to survive. We loved him, and he still remains our most favorite captain we've ever had."

"Were there other captains?" Keith asked. He noticed how Electra said that Captain Olimar was their favorite.

"Yeah, their were others. A few days after Captain Olimar left, he came back with two other captains, and we helped them find various items in the environment. I think the other two captains were named Louie and Shacho. While they were here, they discovered the purple and white Pikmin." Electra gestured toward the purples and whites. "It used to be that they reproduced from flowers underground, but the Onion evolved to include them too. Anyways, after Captain Olimar and the other two left, three more captains arrived on the planet, and we helped them to gather fruit. Their names were I think Alph, Brittany, and Charlie. They discovered the Rock and Winged Pikmin." Electra gestured to the grey and pink Pikmin. "Now they left too." Electra stopped talking for a moment, so Keith assumed that she was finished. She wasn't.

"Anyways, have you heard about the new captain that just arrived?" _You mean me?_ Keith wanted to say. "Ooh I'm so excited that a new captain is here! We haven't had one in a while. He said that his name was Keith. Hopefully he'll be able to repopulate our species again! Oh! It looks like the Onion has landed." Keith felt the usual swaying of the Onion come to a stop.

"It looks like we've landed somewhere different." Electra said. Keith looked out a window. She was right, they weren't in the plain that they were in yesterday. They were in a more densely forested area, where the grass grew even higher than before.

"That's weird." Electra said as she was looking out a window too. "This captain doesn't look like he has a ship. In fact, I don't see where the captain even is!"

Soon all the other Pikmin noticed this, and there began to be a commotion as to the whereabouts of this new Captain Keith.

_Uh-oh. I should get out quickly and change back into my space suit form._

Keith said bye to Electra, then quickly walked to the nearest hole in the wall that led outside, but he was stopped by Flare. "Wait! Kindle! Don't go outside. When a captain is here, we usually wait for him to call us out first."

Keith made an excuse. "Oh. Well... I was just going to go outside and search for him. Maybe he just needs some reminding."

Flare stared at Keith for a while, as if trying to assess what to do. In the end, he let Keith go. "But don't blame me when you find a bulborb out there!"

Keith was going to ask what a bulborb was, but decided not to. He would find out sooner or later.

Keith, with satchel in hand, slid down the leg of the Onion and ran about 50 steps away from the Onion. It was about 9:00 A.M. Keith should be finished changing form by 9:30 A.M. He took out the Form Changer, set to change into the space man form, and his body began to change.

The transformation took longer than Keith anticipated. It was already 10 A.M. by the time Keith had finished transforming. Keith looked at the life support system of his suit, which now said 29 days. He grabbed the Form Changer (which had slightly grown to accommodate Keith's size), grabbed his satchel (which he decided to keep using), stuffed the device into the satchel, and ran back to the Onion.

When he got back, the Onion looked the same as ever, although Keith noticed something that he hadn't noticed before. There was now a light glowing under the Onion. Keith stood under this light and, not knowing what else to do, blew his whistle. All at once, all 50 of the Pikmin slid out of the Onion.

"It's about time..." "What took him so long?" "Finally! We can get going."

Keith was stunned for a moment by the fact that he could still understand the Pikmin, then remembered that it was a feature of changing form. Once he changed into another organism with another language, he remembers the new language forever no matter what form he is in. He couldn't speak to them in the Pikmin language though, mainly because his voice box prevented him from doing so. But if the Pikmin understood it when he told them his name, then he assumed that they would understand anything else he said.

"All right! Let's go!" Keith yelled. He walked forward and the Pikmin followed.

Keith still didn't know how he would be able to find his other two Emergency Devices in this vast world. It looks like he will just have to keep searching and hope for the best.

Keith hadn't walked very far when he spotted numerous flowers, each with the number 1 written on the center of these flowers. They kept changing color, and Keith noticed that they kept changing to the colors of the Pikmin. All at once the Pikmin made a racket. "Pellet posies!" "I want a pink one!" "Throw me!"

_Throw?_ Is this how the previous captains were able to get them to do something? By throwing them at the thing they wanted them to carry? Seemed cruel, but the Pikmin were enthusiastic about it, so Keith picked up a red Pikmin by its leaf and threw it at the pellet posy just as it turned red. The Pikmin latched on, hit it with its leaf, and the whole flower fell apart, except for its center, which promptly fell on the ground. The red Pikmin picked up the center of the pellet posy, and walked back to the Onion.

Keith wondered if these flowers had nutrients that could reproduce Pikmin. Keith threw a yellow Pikmin at a yellow pellet posy, threw a blue Pikmin at a blue pellet posy, and did the same for each color of the Pikmin. Each color carried by their corresponding pellet posy center, and walked back with it toward the Onion. Keith and the rest of the Pikmin walked back to the Onion. He saw the Pikmin carry the pellet posies back to the Onion, where he saw it turn into seeds that popped out the top and planted into the ground. After all the Pikmin had carried back the pellet posies,there were now 14 seeds planted into the ground, two of each color.

In a few moments a sprout appeared where the seeds had been planted, and they all moved on its own. Remembering what Electra said about Captain Olimar, Keith pulled all 14 of the sprouts out of the ground. The number of Pikmin in the group had grown from 50 to 64.

"Newbies!" That was Poy, obviously excited that he had more victims to play around with.

Satisfied, Keith walked on, with his newly increased group following him. Hours passed by; the day was mostly uneventful. On the way, Keith ran across a few, large sand walls. At first, Keith thought that they were impassable. So he turned around and headed in the opposite direction, but a few of the Pikmin ran toward the wall and started smashing it with their leaf/bud/flower. Keith wondered if the Pikmin could break it down, so he pointed at the stone wall and blew into his whistle. The rest of the Pikmin ran towards the wall. In a few minutes, they had collapsed it, and they stood cheering, some even doing somersaults in the air.

Keith called the Pikmin back to his side and walked on. The day passed on, and soon it was 4:00 P.M. The Pikmin didn't seem to be tired; in fact, they seemed pretty happy just walking around, and a lot of them were even singing. The song they were singing sounded sad to Keith. One of the verses said:

_In this planet where many things live  
__Today we'll carry, fight, multiply, and be eaten again  
__Uprooted, gathered, and blown away  
__But we won't ask you to love us_

Even though it was sad, it seemed slightly familiar to Keith, as if he's heard it before back on Earth. He decided to call it the Sad Song.

At about 4:30 P.M., Keith saw something glint off in the distance. Hopes held high, he walked toward it, only to find that it wasn't an Emergency Device, but something even more strange. It was a large Duracell battery. Keith has seen one of these back on Earth, but why was it just laying on the ground? _What happened to the Earth that I know?_ Some of the Pikmin tried to carry the battery back to the Onion, but Keith called them back and decided to walk back to the Onion, disappointed that he hadn't found anything useful.

At 5:00 P.M. Keith was about halfway back to the Onion, when he saw something in his path that made his heart stop for a moment. In the middle of the path was a large sleeping _thing_, just sleeping in front of Keith. It was about twice Keith's height

The Pikmin began to whisper to each other "A bulborb." "Are we killing it?" "We could get a lot of Pikmin if we kill this."

Kill?! No, no, no Keith didn't think he was quite ready for brutal murder just yet. Maybe he wouldn't ever be ready. Keith had been responsible for a few deaths, but only because those he killed were hostile, brutal monsters that haunted his dreams. This thing, on the other hand, looked so peaceful just lying down and having a nap, it almost seemed cute. Keith decided just to slowly walk around the bulborb. He carefully walked around the bulborb. He managed to make it around the bulborb, with the rest of the Pikmin following behind. Relieved, Keith walked on.

And then he heard Poy's voice. "Hey! Yoohoo!" Poy was shouting – yes, actually shouting in front of the bulborb, and taunting it with even more shouts. He even called it a few cuss words. Of course, the bulborb woke up and let out an angry roar. Keith was angry too, and at the same target as the bulborb was locked on to.

Keith was very disappointed (and afraid) that he was going to have to fight the bulborb anyways, even after he sneaked around it. Poy ran back to the group after he woke up the bulborb. Keith grabbed the nearest Pikmin, a blue one, and launched it at the bulborb's eyes. Keith picked up even more and threw all of them at the bulborb, some at it's eyes and some at its body. The bulborb was able to shake off the Pikmin in a few seconds; some stayed on, but others had fallen off, and the bulborb helped itself to 4 of the fallen Pikmin.

"NO!" Keith was devastated. He just saw 4 Pikmin die right before his eyes. Enraged, Keith blew his whistle to gather the Pikmin back to him, then he hurled the Pikmin at the bulborb with twice as much speed and strength than usual. His energy was being fueled by anger and adrenaline. Soon, the Pikmin killed the bulborb, and it let out one last cry of anguish. Then it fell to the ground.

Keith's adrenaline faded, and it was slowly replaced with despair. He killed it, and Keith felt horrible. The Pikmin on the other hand were the most happy Keith had seen them all day. Keith let the reds take the corpse back to the Onion to make more reds. By the time they got back to the Onion, it was 6:15 P.M. The corpse sprouted 12 red seeds from the Onion, which Keith plucked. From there, Keith dismissed the Pikmin and walked slowly away from the Onion. Keith barely made it 20 steps when he collapsed in a small field surrounded by grass. Keith felt hopeless. How could he possibly find his Emergency Devices in this vast place? He was lucky to have even found one. But now it just seemed silly to even try to look for the other two. What would happen if his life-support system ran out? He would have to live with the Pikmin for the rest of his life. Keith probably would have gotten used to it. But what about everyone back on Earth? His family would be heartbroken thinking that Keith has died, and the science team would consider the mission a failure and... and...

At this point, Keith broke down. It's only been two days, and Keith already felt stressed and pathetic. Keith took a few moments just to let it all out. _I'm probably just tired. I'll be okay tomorrow..._

Keith was still lying on the ground, when he saw a yellow Pikmin approach Keith. Keith recognized that it was Electra, and she had her hands behind her back. She must have heard Keith sobbing, because she approached Keith and gave him flower. Keith sat up, and took the flower from Electra. "Tha-Thank you." Keith said. Electra hummed the Sad Song, and then walked back toward the Onion.

Keith felt better. He placed the flower in his satchel, took out the Form Changer and changed into Pikmin form.

It was 7:00 P.M. when Keith was finished transforming. He picked up the Form Changer, placed it in his satchel, and headed back toward the Onion.

The Onion was ready to launch, and all the Pikmin had already headed inside. Keith managed to hurry inside before it launched off though. When Keith got back inside, he trudged to his sleeping spot, ignoring Flare's questions ("Where have you_ been?_ The captain came while you were gone. Why was he wearing the same satchel that you wear? And why-) "Shut up!" Keith shouted at Flare. "I'm tired. Just leave me alone."

Flare raised his eyes "Whoa, alright. No need to shout..." He walked away, and Keith kind of wished he hadn't been so cranky at him. _I shouldn't be so angry. They're all the help I have, and they've been very helpful._

When Keith got to his sleeping spot, Poy approached him. "Hey, look who's still alive! Good news for you, cuz we've got 22 newbies in, so I won't be pestering you that much, but I still occasionally will, because you have stuff that I can steal in that bag of yours." Keith ignored him. He set up his satchel for a pillow and laid his head down on it. Poy was still talking to him at this point, but Keith didn't pay attention to a word he said. Keith instantly fell asleep, where he had dreams of forests and bulborbs and death.

_**Somewhere else...**_

The group of five hadn't made much progress, but they did come across a large field containing some interesting things.

"Look! The footprints end over there." The girl pointed to the center of the field. They ran to where the tracks ended. "Everyone. There are three markings on the ground here, these must have been the legs of the Onion!" That was the boy in blue hair who spoke this time. He indicated towards the three markings on the ground.

"It looks like our mysterious fellow has found the Pikmin first." Said the man with three tufts of hair and a large nose.

"Hey. What could this be...?" The blonde-haired man, was indicating toward a small device that was somewhat buried in the sand next to a pond. He dug it up and obtained an odd looking device. It sort of looked like the device that the blue-haired boy and the girl had found after defeating an enemy that they named the Armored Mawdad.

"What could this button do?" The blonde-haired person pressed a button on the left and the screen at the top of the device lit up, showing the image of a teenage boy. This boy began to speak in English, a language that the group of five did not understand.

"Keith, is that you? This is Max. We tried calling you over and over again, but you wouldn't pick up. It's so good to know that you're- Wait a minute. You're not Keith. Who are you and where's-" The blonde-haired man pressed the button again, and the transmission ended. "It looks like that it just plays some kind of video."

The blue-haired boy took a closer look at the device. "What if this device belongs to our mysterious person? If this person has an antennae, like the rest of us do, we could probably use this device to track his signal!"

"Nice thinking Alph!" The man with a mohawk praised. "Our top engineer once again solves our problem!"

"Gee thanks." The boy replied a bit sheepishly.

The girl surveyed the sky. "It's almost getting dark. We should head back to the ship."

They all trudged back to the ship. Another uneventful day, but at least they found something that will put them one step closer to finding their mysterious person. But for now, they just thought about the food that would be waiting for them at the ship.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and I do not work for Nintendo of any kind. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author**: Did any of you recognize the song lyrics that the Pikmin were singing? If you don't know, they were singing a Japanese song called Ai No Uta. It was a song created by a band called Strawberry Flower, and this song originally appeared in the Japanese commercials for the first Pikmin game. The song became very popular, and even sold more than the Pikmin game itself. It's a very nice song, and for those of you who haven't already, I _highly _recommend that you listen to it.


	5. Day 3

**Day 3 – Forest**

"Hey! Stop it!" Keith woke up to the cry of some poor Pikmin newbies that Poy was obviously picking on. Keith made a short sigh. "Oh Poy..." Keith wondered why Poy liked to be so mischievous. He looked to where Keith heard the cry, and saw that Poy had tied the stems of two Pikmin together, a red one and a blue one.

_Well, as long as it's not me._ Keith thought. The Onion soon landed, and when no Pikmin was looking, Keith snuck out of the Onion with his satchel. They were in a slightly different spot than they were yesterday, but it looked like the same terrain; lush trees, tall grass, and more green environment and Keith walked away 50 steps from the Onion and changed form.

When he finished an hour later, Keith walked back to the Onion. As he walked back however, Keith noticed that his antennae that stuck out of the top of his head was going crazy. It kept moving around and making large pings, as if it was sending a signal. Keith ignored this and walked back to the Onion. He took out all the Pikmin (although Keith probably should have left Poy back in the Onion, but he decided not to), and walked in a different path from yesterday.

Keith immediately stumbled across a wall that looked breakable, so he swarmed his Pikmin at the wall, and in a few minutes, the wall had broken down.

On the other side of the wall, Keith encountered more monsters. They looked like smaller versions of the bulborb that he fought yesterday. Keith had decided yesterday that he wouldn't have such an emotional breakdown anymore if he killed. Whatever happened, happened, and Keith would just have to accept it. This time, Keith decided to throw purple Pikmin onto these smaller bulborbs. They slammed onto the small bulborbs, killing them instantly. Keith's stomach lurched. He could hear the sickening _crrrack!_ as the purple Pikmin landed on the creatures. Keith had some purple, white, and winged Pikmin carry the corpses back, and with the rest of his squad, Keith explored some more.

Keith came across a large field. At the center, there was a large pond, and there more were more land was on the other side. Thinking that the Pikmin could swim, Keith walked into the pond, taking care not to get his satchel wet. When he got to the other side, he noticed that only the winged and blue Pikmin had followed him. The rest of the Pikmin were still on the other side, and refused to step into the water. _It looks like only blue Pikmin can swim in water and the winged Pikmin can just fly over. Now that I look closely at the blue Pikmin, their mouth seems to look like gills._

Keith told the rest of the Pikmin on the other side to go back to the Onion. Somehow, they understood, and they walked back to the Onion.

Turns out, there was nothing on the other side. Disappointed, Keith was about to walk back over the pond, when he spotted a piece of paper buried in the ground. The Pikmin dug it up, and Keith picked up the paper. It looked like a map of some sort. On the top it said in another language "The Forest of Hope" and in the bottom-right corner, the paper was signed "Captain Olimar."

_This must be a map of the area I'm in, created by this Captain Olimar fellow._ Keith placed the map in his satchel, and walked back over the pond. Keith noticed how quiet the blue Pikmin were. They seemed so sad and depressed all the time. It seemed to fit, since they were the color blue, and that's usually thought of as a sad color to Keith.

The winged Pikmin, on the other hand, were always buzzing with activity. One of them always seemed to be talking, and they always flew around as if they had no care in the world.

Keith returned to the Onion, where the rest of the Pikmin were waiting. 12 new sprouts had grown in the ground. There were 4 purple sprouts, 4 white sprouts, and 4 pink sprouts. Keith plucked these Pikmin, and the number of Pikmin that he had grew to 84. It was growing dark, so Keith decided to spend the rest of the growing the Pikmin numbers. Keith found some nearby pellet posies. This time, some of them had the number 5 written on them. Keith dedicated some of these flowers to some of the rock Pikmin. He then had the other colors carry back the one pellets.

Keith managed to get 100 Pikmin on the field. He was just about to get 102, when he noticed that the Onion stopped producing seeds , but according to a meter on Keith's suit, the number of Pikmin were still growing.

_It looks like I can only have up to 100 Pikmin with at a time. But where do the leftover Pikmin go. Do they stay inside the Onion?_ Keith assumed this to be true, so Keith decided to keep bringing the Pikmin numbers up.

By the end of day, Keith brought the Pikmin numbers up to 174, according to the meter on Keith's suit. It was 6:00 P.M., so Keith dismissed the Pikmin, walked away from the Onion 50 steps and stopped. Keith noticed his antennae was still reacting strangely. In fact, it was acting even more crazy then it was this morning. Worried, Keith checked his life-support system. The needle was on 28 days and was slowly making its way down to 27. Keith noticed how, after two days, he wasn't hungry. Keith assumed it was probably because, when Keith turns into a Pikmin, he uses photosynthesis to obtain food, and then when he turns back into a captain, he doesn't become hungry because he already had food from when he was a Pikmin. Keith also noticed that he was losing time, and still he hadn't found much. _At least I found a map._

Keith decided that he would use the map to explore the area tomorrow. Keith took out his Form Changer and changed back into Pikmin form.

It was 6:45 P.M. when Keith was finished changing, so he rushed back to the Onion. Everybody was already inside the Onion, so Keith climbed inside the Onion. When he got inside, everything was so much louder than Keith was used to. He saw many groups of Pikmin talking, playing, or introducing themselves. Satisfied that all this was Keith's doing, he walked around the Onion.

To Keith's left, Keith saw Electra walking toward him, trailed by a blue Pikmin. "Kindle, where have you been? Every time the Captain comes, you seem to disappear. This is the second day that its happened! Even Flare wonders where you go every day!"

Honestly, Keith was stumped. He didn't know how to respond. "Well... I... um... It's a secret." _What a terrible excuse._ Keith thought.

"Well, at least you didn't die." Electra beckoned for the blue Pikmin to come closer. To Keith, the blue Pikmin looked very shy, and sort of sad. "Anyways, I thought I may as well introduce you to the other colors of the Pikmin. This is Aqua. He was one of the first blues that Captain Olimar plucked." Electra once again beckoned for Aqua to come closer, for he had stepped back a little bit as Electra was talking.

"Hi..." Aqua said very shyly. His stem was slightly drooping, and he had a depressed look in his eyes. "I have to go..." He walked away, leaving Keith in a slightly confused state.

"Why did he look so sad?" Keith asked Electra. "Oh, well most blues are like that. Our personality usually comes from what color we are, for example, most blues are sad all the time."

"Oh." Keith thought that it was kind of odd having your personality made for you, but it made sense.

"Hey Electra! Come over here!" Electra looked toward a voice to her right. "Oh, well I have to go Kindle! Sorry Aqua wasn't the most sociable of Pikmin. By the way, Poy was looking for you. I'd be careful if I were you."

She left, and Keith walked back toward his sleeping spot. Right now, Keith didn't want to see Poy, mainly because he probably had some brutal prank ready just for him. Keith decided he would just go to sleep, and he would see Poy tomorrow. Keith fell into a nice, dreamless sleep.

_**Somewhere else...**_

"I lost the signal!" The young blue-haired boy cried out as he looked at his KopPad.

"You lost it?" This was the girl who spoke.

"Yeah! It was a green signal and it just suddenly disappeared!"

"Well, do you remember where you last saw it?" The man with a mohawk asked.

"Yeah. It was over here." The boy pointed to a spot on the map. The man with three tufts of hair spoke up. "That's the Forest of Hope! I found the yellow Pikmin there."

"Do you know where it is?" The man with the mohawk asked the man with three tufts of hair. "Of course I do." The man with three tufts of hair replied.

"Then we search that area tomorrow!" The man with the mohawk exclaimed.

For the third day in a row, its been uneventful. They needed to find the Pikmin and fast, or they would run out of supplies. They hoped that tomorrow would be an eventful day, and that they would hopefully find the Pikmin.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author**: I changed the rating from K+ to T, because I think I go into too much detail concerning deaths.


	6. Day 4

**Day 4 – Five Captains: A Day in the Life of a Pikmin**

Keith woke up early today. The Onion was still in the air, and most of the other Pikmin were still sleeping, so Keith got up and decided to wander around. Keith met some other Pikmin while walking. He now knew some of the names of the other Pikmin. There was Hep, a purple Pikmin, Rok, a rock Pikmin, and Ping, a winged Pikmin.

As Keith looked around, he didn't spot Poy anywhere, sleeping or awake. _Great. What could he be scheming today, I wonder?_ Keith thought sarcastically. In an hour, the Onion landed, and most of the other Pikmin were already up.

_Time to get out._ Keith made absolutely sure that no Pikmin was looking, and then he snuck out.

It was a nice day today. A cool breeze was blowing, there were few clouds in the sky, and the environment looked greener than ever. Keith felt very encouraged by all this. He took a deep breath, and took a few steps forward... only to be tackled to the ground by something behind him, dropping his satchel in front of him.

"And where do you think _you're_ goin'?"

Poy! So he was waiting for Keith to get out of the Onion, but why? "Get off me Poy!" Keith squirmed around as much as he could, but Poy sat firmly on Keith's back. Poy turned Keith around, so Keith was now eye-to-eye with Poy, while Poy now sat on Keith's stomach.

Poy grabbed Keith's stem and pulled his face close to Poy's. Poy stared into Keith's eyes, as if he was inspecting him. Poy's eyes looked angry, but it was hard to tell what Poy's expression really was when he only had eyes.

"Why do you keep sneaking out of the Onion in the morning?" Poy asked. He tugged at Keith's stem forcefully, just to make sure he answers.

"Ow! Well, I uh..." He couldn't just straight up tell Poy his secret. Keith decided to keep quiet for now, even though Poy's interrogation was painful.

"Not answering, huh? Well, you're not sneaking out today. I'm going to drag you back inside the Onion, just so you can see for one day how it's like to be with the Captain." Poy threatened.

"I don't _want_ to!" Keith squirmed around, but Poy held firm. Man, Poy had a hard grip.

Still holding on to Keith's stem, Poy got up and dragged Keith back to the Onion. "Damn it Poy, stop it! Let... go... of... ME!" For a small Pikmin, Poy was surprisingly strong, and held a firm grip. Still holding on to Keith, Poy climbed up the Onion leg and into the Onion. When they got inside, Poy threw Keith harshly in front of him.

"Now we just have to wait 'till the Captain gets here. Right now, I'll just make sure that you don't escape again." _I _am _the Captain stupid little..._ Keith would have _so_ liked to get the Form Changer out and throw it right in Poy's face. He reached for the device, only to find that it wasn't with him. Keith had left his satchel outside of the Onion, and now he was trapped inside.

* * *

"Look! The Onion!" A girl exclaimed. The group of five had flown their ship around to where the man with three tufts of hair had indicated. The girl had looked out the window and spotted the familiar, colorful orb below them. "Let's land beside it!" she said.

The man with a mohawk landed the ship down beside the Onion, and they stepped out of the ship.

"It doesn't look like our mysterious fellow is here," said the man with three tufts of hair "but at least we found the Onion. Let's call out some Pikmin, shall we?"

The boy with blue hair stepped under the light of the Onion and called out 10 of each color Pikmin.

* * *

Keith tried to escape numerous times while inside the Onion, but it always ended up with Keith on the ground, Poy sitting on top of him, and a few laughing Pikmin. Keith was feeling very frustrated, annoyed, and desperate. Half of his anger was directed at Poy, who just _had_ to ruin his day, yet the other half of Keith's anger was directed at himself, for how could he have been so _stupid_ as to leave his satchel outside the Onion?

Keith was trying get Poy off him for the 4th time, when all of sudden, he heard something that he had not expected to hear. The sound of a whistle blowing, and then the calling for 10 of each kind of Pikmin color.

Keith was stunned. There couldn't be others on the planet, could there? Were there some explorers that he had failed to find?

"Well, that must be the Captain." Poy said. He gave Keith a devious look, which made Keith squirm around even more. "And since he asked for 10 of each Pikmin, why don't me and you go out there?" Grabbing Keith's stem, he dragged Keith to the exit of the Onion. At first, Keith squirmed frantically, trying to get out of Poy's grip, but then he remembered that his satchel was out there, so Keith let Poy drag him to the exit.

* * *

"What could this be?" The blonde-haired man noticed a sort of bag next to the Onion. He picked it up and looked inside. There wasn't much, just a flower, some odd device, and a piece of paper. "Olimar, look." The blonde-haired man showed the bag to the man with three tufts of hair. The man with three tufts of hair took the bag, and searched the inside. What caught his attention was the piece of paper inside. He took it out and looked at it.

"This piece of paper is a map of this area that I made when I first crashed on this planet! I thought I had lost this map. Could this bag belong to our mysterious fellow?"

The girl, who noticed what was going on, looked at the bag that the man was holding. "Keep it," the girl said to the man "if our mysterious person isn't dead already, we could return this to him when we find him." The man with three tufts of hair nodded, and slung the strap over his shoulder.

* * *

"You can let go of me now Poy!" Keith angrily said to Poy when they got out of the Onion. Poy let go, and Keith rubbed his stem, which was now very sore. Keith looked around, and noticed five captains standing around the Onion. This just added to Keith's confusion. There were _five_ others on this planet, and Keith had failed to notice? Among the crowd Keith heard Flare's voice shouting amongst the others.

"Everyone! These are five of the first six captains who came to our planet, and among them is Captain Olimar, the first Captain who came here and repopulated our species!" Flare indicated toward the man with three tufts of hair. Keith jumped from the sight of him. It wasn't that he looked weird or anything, it was the fact that, draped across one of his shoulders was Keith's satchel.

All the Pikmin began to cheer at Flare's news.

"It looks like they're happy to see us!" said a boy with blue hair.

Flare began to say the names of the other four captains "This is Louie," he indicated toward a man dressed in blue with blonde hair "this is Alph," that was the boy with blue hair "Brittany," that was the girl dressed in pink "and finally, Charlie!" Charlie was a large man dressed in green and had a mohawk.

Keith was disappointed that of all days, Poy had to choose this one. If Keith had changed back into his Captain form, he would have been able to meet these five captains himself, but it looks like he will just have to stay as a Pikmin for now.

"All right, let's split them up!" said Alph. Olimar whistled the reds and yellows to his side, Louie whistled the white and purples, Alph whistled the blues, Brittany whistled the wings, and Charlie whistled the rocks. Every Pikmin moved to their designated groups... everyone but Keith.

Keith stayed rooted to the spot. He had to get his satchel back, but how would he do it?

"What's wrong with that Pikmin?" Brittany asked.

"Here I'll try whistling him again." said Olimar. He blew his whistle at Keith, but he stayed his ground.

"Maybe he wants something?" Alph suggested.

Keith took this as his cue. He walked up to the Olimar and pointed at the satchel that Olimar was still wearing.

"It looks like he wants the bag, Olimar." Brittany said.

"Is that so?" Olimar said while staring at Keith. "Well, I guess I'll give it to him then." Olimar took the satchel off and handed it to Keith. Keith took it, and a wave of relief spread over him. He was glad that he was able to get his satchel back so easily. Keith put it on and joined Olimar's group.

"That was odd, but at least we got it settled." Charlie said. "All right then, let's get as much fruit as we can today, to make up for the last few days!"

Olimar and Louie headed in the direction of the lake, while Alph, Brittany, and Charlie headed in the opposite direction.

When they got to the lake, Louie spotted a bushel of grapes and some pieces of watermelon on the other side. "Look! Some fruit!"

Olimar looked where Louie indicated. "They're on the other side of the lake, though. It looks like we'll just have to wait for Alph to come back and get those." Olimar said.

The two captains were about to move on, but Keith stared at the fruit. Keith couldn't change form today as Poy would most likely follow wherever Keith went, so Keith might as well try to help these captains. The other side of the lake wasn't too far away, so Keith put down his satchel and stepped into the water.

Flare, Electra, Poy, and a few other Pikmin noticed Keith, and they all ran to him to try and stop him.

"Kindle stop! You'll drown if you go into the deep water!" Electra warned. "Only blue Pikmin can breathe underwater!" said Flare.

Keith merely responded by saying, "Geez guys. It's okay. I may not be able to breathe underwater, but I can do this." When he finished speaking, Keith leaped into the lake.

"NO! Kindle!" some of the Pikmin yelled. But something strange was going on. Unlike most other non-blue Pikmin, Keith wasn't struggling in the water. Instead, he surfaced and was now swimming on the top of the water.

"See. Toldja." Keith swam to the other side of the lake while the other Pikmin gazed in astonishment. When Keith got to the other side, he took a piece of watermelon, tucked it under one arm, and swam back to the side where the Pikmin were watching. When Keith made it to the other side, he dropped the piece of watermelon.

"Well, aren't one of you going to take this back?" Keith said.

A yellow Pikmin in the back picked up the watermelon and walked back to the ship.

"I'm going to get some more fruit." Keith swam back to the side with fruit, grabbed a grape and swam back, where this time a purple Pikmin carried it back.

At this point, Olimar and Louie noticed the strange spectacle going on at the lake, so they walked to where the group of Pikmin were standing, and were shocked at what they saw. A single red Pikmin who was able to swim to the other side of the lake, collect fruit, and bring them back to the other side, where the Pikmin would bring the delivered fruit back to the ship.

This went on for an hour or so. When Keith returned the last grape to the other side, all the Pikmin began to cheer for him. His shoulders were sore from all the swimming, but he felt proud to have returned all the fruit to the other side. Keith picked up his satchel, dried himself off, and rejoined the group.

"How were you able to do that?" "You can swim?" "Are you secretly a blue Pikmin?" A barrage of questions and compliments greeted Keith. He responded to these questions by merely saying, "I just know how to swim."

Olimar and Louie were still a bit shocked at this Pikmin that can swim, but wasn't a blue Pikmin. When all the fruit had been returned to the ship, and the rest of the Pikmin rejoined the group, Olimar and Louie moved on, while debating the question as to Keith's ability.

The day moved on. Keith was still being questioned and complimented, as if he was a celebrity. Even Poy saw Keith in a new light.

The rest of the day was, more or less, uneventful. The only other fruit they found was a plum, which they carried back. When it was getting dark, Olimar and Louie returned to the ship along with the Pikmin. Alph, Brittany, and Charlie were waiting there.

Olimar and Louie dismissed the Pikmin and they went back inside the Onion, but Keith heard them begin to speak with each other, so he went closer to see what they were talking about.

"So did you get anything?" Olimar asked.

Brittany made a sigh. "No. Just an apple that was already half-eaten. How about you?"

Olimar and Louie exchanged glances. "Well we did find a Lesser Mock Bottom, but we discovered something that's even more interesting." Olimar said.

_Lesser Mock Bottom? Is that the plum? Why do they call it that?_ Keith wondered.

Charlie raised his eyebrows. "And what is this 'interesting discovery'?"

"Well where we went, there was a large lake, and on the other side was a full bushel of Dusk Pustules and some pieces of Crimson Banquet." Olimar said. Keith assumed that Dusk Pustules were the grapes and the Crimson Banquet were the pieces of watermelon.

Alph jumped up when he heard this news. "Well, let's go get them! We might still have time to get a few pieces!" Olimar stopped Alph though.

"We already got them." Olimar said. Alph became very confused when this was said "But... how? You didn't have any blue Pikmin, did you?"

"A red Pikmin was able to swim to the other side and bring back all the fruit in a little more than an hour. It was the same one that requested the bag earlier this morning." Olimar explained.

The other three Captains were astonished. Brittany shook her head. "Wait a minute, so you had a red Pikmin with you that could _swim_?"

Louie nodded and said "Yeah. He's right there. He was listening to us the entire time."

The three captains turned around, and stared at Keith in an expression that Keith couldn't quite decipher.

"Well, good job little guy!" Brittany said. "You managed to get us a good haul of fruit today. Why don't you go back to the Onion and rest up?"

After she said this, Keith turned around and headed back to the Onion, and climbed inside. Keith's whole body was now aching from the swimming, so he trudged over to his sleeping spot. On his way, the Pikmin were gazing at him with shocked and astonished faces. Obviously the news has spread about how a red Pikmin was able to swim in the lake for an hour straight.

When Keith got to his sleeping spot, he thought to himself, _Y'know what I haven't done in a while? Make a logbook entry._ So Keith made an entry in his logbook describing what happened since the last time he made a journal entry, and he described what had happened today. When Keith was finished with his journal entry, Poy came over to him.

"Hello there Kindle!" Poy said a bit too gleefully.

"What are you doing here?" Keith asked suspiciously. "Have you set up some grand prank for me? Are you gonna tie me up with another Pikmin? Oh! Or maybe you've come to see what's in my bag again, huh?" Keith said with a tone of anger rising slightly in his voice.

"No, but those are all good suggestions!" Poy said, once again, a bit too gleefully "I just came to tell you that now that you're so famous and special for being able to swim, I realized that you are now my favorite person to pick on!"

"Oh great. That's effing wonderful." Keith said with as much sarcasm as he could. "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go to sleep now, and you better not be thinking anything devious while I sleep."

"No guarantees!" Poy said happily, and then he walked away.

That conversation left Keith in a sour mood. He set up his satchel for a pillow, laid down, and had thoughts of tomorrow. If Poy didn't see him, Keith will have to sneak out first thing tomorrow morning and quickly change form, so he would be able to meet the Captains in person. But right now, Keith soon fell asleep because of his sore body. Keith couldn't explain why the next morning, but tonight, Keith had dreams of home.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author**: For those of you who haven't checked my profile (I use it to post updates), I finally managed to make a (very descent) book cover for the story! It's a picture of Keith in his Pikmin form with his satchel draped over one shoulder and the other hand holding the Form Changer. Anyways, what do you guys think so far? Any reviews would be appreciated. Also, how do you think of Poy so far? I made his character so that some of you will like him and some of you may not. I personally like Poy.


	7. Day 5

**Day 5 – A Leader Who Understands**

Keith, for some odd reason, woke up and felt dry tears on his face. "What the..." he began to mutter, only to remember the dreams he had last night. They were heart-wrenching nightmares. He had had dreams of home, except his dreams were of his family grieving over Keith's death, friends shocked and pained from the loss, and everybody else he knew was in a grave mood over the death of Keith. And Keith saw all of that in his dreams, and he was screaming and shouting and crying at these people. He wanted to tell them that he wasn't dead and that we would come home ASAP. But whenever Keith screamed, they wouldn't listen, and they continued to grieve over Keith's death.

Keith was almost starting to tear up again just thinking about it. He must have cried in his sleep. Keith hoped to dear God that he didn't make any noises while he slept too. That would have been embarrassing, and if Poy heard him, that would have been even worse.

Keith began to wonder if that was really happening back on Earth. It made Keith feel hollow at the thought. Keith shook off the depression, though, and told himself with as much courage as he could, _Don't worry everyone. I'm fine, and I'll be home soon._ This didn't make Keith feel better though.

Keith decided that a nice walk around the Onion would do him good. He had woken up early again today. Keith was still a little tired, but he didn't feel like going back to sleep. As he walked around, he spotted Poy still sleeping. An urge suddenly told Keith to do some horrible prank to Poy, just so he could get a taste of his own medicine, but Keith pushed away the thought; he just wasn't that kind of person, and Poy would probably just be even _worse_ to Keith if Keith pulled a prank on him. Maybe someday Keith would get him back, but for now, he decided to just lay low.

Keith stopped for few minutes and sat down with his back to the wall. He went over his plan for today; to meet the captains without drawing anyone's attention. That would be difficult, as he was on Flare and Poy's radar 24/7. Keith decided to hang around by the exit of the Onion and wait for the Onion to land. Then, he would quickly go out and change form.

So Keith did this. When the Onion landed, he quickly exited the Onion, checking momentarily so that no one was watching him. When he got out, he noticed that the ship where the five captains were in was also about to land. Keith was a bit confused. Did the Onion follow the ship, or did the ship follow the Onion? He had no time to think about this, however, as Keith had to run quickly away so he could find a safe spot to change form before the Captains came out. Keith ran away from the Onion and the ship for 100 steps. He then stopped, and changed into the Captain form (Keith had decided to stop calling it the space suit form).

When Keith was finished changing form, Keith noticed his surroundings. He was, once again, in a different place then he was in yesterday, but it was, once again, in a green, lush environment. To Keith's left was a large red bridge that crossed over a small river. The bridge looked as if it was constructed out of little pieces, and were put together one-by-one. Keith also took a look at his life support system. The needle was now pointing to 26 days.

Keith saw the five captains exit the ship, and Keith reluctantly walked back to the ship to see them. When the five captains noticed Keith walking toward them, they stopped what they were doing and stared as Keith walked toward them. Keith walked more slowly as he got closer to them. Brittany was the first to speak up. "Are you a Captain?" she asked. Keith realized that she spoke in the same language that was written on Keith's life-support system.

Keith nodded his head and looked around at the other captains. They were all staring as if Keith had risen from the dead. Keith just stayed his ground and waited for any of the other captains to respond.

Charlie stepped forward and said, "You must be the mysterious person we've been looking for. We saw a ship crash four days ago. Was that your ship?"

"Y-Yeah," Keith said, stuttering a little as he was a bit confused as to what else to say, "that was my ship. I saw this planet and decided to land, but when I initiated the landing sequence, the ship malfunctioned and crashed and... well yeah. That's what happened." Keith examined the expressions on the other captains' faces. Keith remembered that he was technically strangers to them, even if Keith had met them the day before.

Olimar stepped forward and smiled, saying, "We might as well introduce ourselves then." Keith quickly stopped himself from saying that he already knew their names. Captain Olimar introduced himself and the other four captains, then he asked what Keith's name was.

"I'm Keith." He responded. Keith stopped here, and waited for one of the other captains to say something, because at this point, Keith was stumped as to what to say next.

Alph stepped forward and said with a positive attitude, "Well, at least we had managed to find you! Or, you found us at least. If there's anything we can do, please just go ahead and ask!" Keith took this chance to explain to them of his predicament. He explained to them how, when Keith had crashed on the planet, he had lost three devices that will help aid in Keith's escape of the planet.

"I found one of the devices already," Keith took out his Form Changer, but didn't explain to them what it did, "but I still need to find the other two. This space suit provided me with 30 days of life-support, but now I'm down to 26." At this, Olimar jumped up in surprise.

"Did you say just say that you're vest provides you with _30_ days of life-support?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Can I take a closer look at your vest then?" Olimar asked.

"Um, okay." Olimar looked closely at Keith's vest.

"This vest is made of the same technology as the vests made back on planet Hocotate! Have you come from that planet? Now that I look at you, you do have a strong resemblance to the features of a Hocotatian."

_Planet Hocotate? Is that where these people came from? _Keith wondered. _The Advanced Form Changer back on Earth must have deemed these "Hocotatians" as the most successful organism in this universe, and that's probably why it turned my body into one._ Keith decided to lay low with his location. "Well, I come from another place, but not from there."

"Are you an extra explorer sent from Planet Koppai?" Charlie asked.

_Planet Koppai? These people live on _two _planets? _"I didn't come from there either." Keith responded.

"Then where _are _you from?" Alph asked. Keith was starting to feel a little overloaded with questions.

"I... I'm not supposed to tell where." Keith said. This wasn't entirely true, as Keith _could_ have told them the truth; that he came from another universe and traveled to this one to investigate. But he doubted that they would believe him, and they may have even thought that he was crazy, and that they wouldn't help him because of it. Keith decided not to risk that, so he came up with that shallow lie. Maybe he would tell them the truth once he found all three Emergency Devices, but for now, Keith needed all the help he can get.

The five captains looked at each other for a second, then Charlie said "Well, if you won't say, then we won't pry you, but wouldn't it be easier if we dropped you off at your planet instead of having to go off and find your devices on this large planet?"

Keith hadn't thought about this, but he quickly made up a lie and said, "Because it's secret, I would prefer that I find my Emergency Devices instead of having to be dropped off at my planet."

Alph spoke up after Keith finished, "Okay. We'll help you find these devices! We wouldn't want to leave you stranded here! This place here is very wild. But while we help you, do you think you could also help us by finding fruit on this planet?"

"Oh, sure! Thank you so much! I'll gladly help you if you help me!" Keith was relieved. He managed to obtain their trust, and they would help him as he would help them.

Alph walked over to the ship and beckoned for Keith to follow. Alph said to the other captains, "I'll give him a new space vest and a KopPad. You guys go on ahead!"

Alph stepped in front of the ship, and a light appeared and sort of sucked him inside the ship. Keith, a bit reluctantly, also stepped in front of the ship, where a light pulled him inside. The inside of a ship, like the Onion, was bigger inside than it was outside, but it was only slightly larger. The room Keith first entered was a large, spacious room. It had a flat floor, but the walls and ceiling were rounded. Multiple doors around the room led to various parts of the ship. Behind Keith was something that looked like an escape pod. He assumed that's where you exit the ship.

Alph led Keith into a door right across from the exit. "This is the Control Room," Alph explained, "It's where we steer the ship." At the front of the room was a control panel and a large windshield. To the left of all this was a sort of rack where all kinds of supplies were held. There were suits, tablet looking things, and a whole array of peculiar liquids inside bottles. Alph took a space vest and a yellow-colored tablet looking thing from the rack. He gave these to Keith.

"Here. This is a new space vest that you can use. You won't have to worry about a life-support system in the vest; it will only need to be recharged about once a week from the ship." When Alph was finished, he pointed to the tablet looking thing, "This is a KopPad. It allows you to track our location and for us to locate you. We'll give you a yellow signal. You can change your suit in there." Alph pointed to a door on the other side of the room. Keith went inside and saw that it was a bathroom. Keith stepped in and closed the door behind him.

Keith quickly changed his vest and stepped outside. His antennae was now yellow instead of the green that it was before.

"Good! You're ready to go! Let's go back outside." Alph said. As they walked back to the exit of the ship, Keith asked, "So, you're here to collect the planet's fruit. Why?"

"Our planet, Planet Koppai where me, Charlie and Brittany came from, ran out of a consistent food supply. We found this planet, which was full of fruit, so we came to harvest the fruit and its seeds so we can regrow them back on our planet. We called the planet PNF-404."

_You mean the error you get on the internet? _Keith thought. Alph continued,

"This is our second time on the planet. The first time, we collected a lot of fruit, but we didn't know how to plant the new seeds, so we came back to research these plants." Alph said as they reached the exit.

"Where did Captain Olimar and Louie come from?" Keith asked.

"They're from Planet Hocotate. The first time we Koppaites came to PNF, we found them here. Louie stole our food when we found him, and we managed to save Olimar from a creature we called the Plasm Wraith. Olimar volunteered to help the three of us study the fruit our second time here. He said that he wanted to study the planet a bit more, so we let him come along. Besides, Olimar has the most experience with the planet. We sort of just made Louie come along. Compensation for stealing our food supply. This is Olimar's fourth time to this planet, and it's Louie's third."

Alph stepped inside the exit and pressed a button. A light engulfed him and he disappeared. Keith assumed that Alph was now outside, so Keith followed. When Keith got outside, the sun was already halfway across the sky. Keith could tell it was already 1:00 or 2:00 P.M. The other captains were already gone. Alph stepped under the Onion and called out 20 blue Pikmin.

Alph came over to Keith, "These are the Pikmin, they-"

"I know what they are." Keith interrupted, "I found them on the day I first crashed. They helped me find my first Emergency Device."

"Oh, okay! So you already know what they are and their special attributes?" Alph asked.

"Well, all I know is that blue Pikmin can breathe underwater, and that winged Pikmin can fly."

"Let me tell you what the rest do. The red Pikmin are immune to fire, the yellows are immune to electricity and can be thrown high, the whites are fast and immune to poison, the purples are really heavy and strong, and the rocks... well, they're as hard as a rock!" Alph finished.

"Oh, okay. Thank you!" Keith said. Alph took out his KopPad.

"It looks like the other Captains aren't too far away. Let's head over to them!" Alph headed in a direction east of the ship and over a bridge. The captains were on the other side. Olimar had 20 reds and 10 yellows, Louie had 10 purples and 10 whites, Brittany had 10 winged, and Charlie had 20 rocks. In total, there were 100 Pikmin of all colors. There was a ton of commotion as Keith heard all the Pikmin had to say.

"There are so many Captains!" "Look! It's the new Captain!" "Hey, where'd Kindle go?"

Keith flinched a little when he heard someone mention his Pikmin name. Keith recognized the voice to be Flare's obviously wondering why Keith wasn't out with everybody else.

"You're finished!" Brittany said when she noticed them coming, "Now we can finally start searching for real! Oh, and Keith, if we find something that looks peculiar, or if an unknown signal comes up on our KopPads, we'll tell you. It might be the device that you're trying to search for!"

"Okay. Thanks!" Keith said. All 6 of the Captains walked eastward. As the day passed by, they found a few monsters, which they killed. Keith still felt a little nauseous whenever he killed something. If this place was really Earth years in the future, then Keith was technically killing off its wildlife. Keith asked Alph something.

"So what is this place?" Keith asked.

"We call this place the Garden of Hope. It's abundant with fruit and other plants, so we come here often when trying to find fruit."

This didn't seem true to Keith. They've been walking around for a few hours, and they haven't found a single piece of fruit.

"I don't see any fruit around here." Keith said.

"Well, we kind of already took most of the fruit here already when we first came to the planet." Alph responded.

At about 5:30 P.M., the Pikmin started to act all jittery.

"So many fruit!" "Look over there!" They were talking about a tree with branches looming high above Keith. If Keith looked very closely into the leaves, he could see that there were indeed lots of fruit on the branches, but they were very hidden.

"Guys, stop." Keith said to the Captains. They didn't hear him, so he said again, "Hey! Stop! There's a lot of fruit in the tree right above us!" To this, the Captains stopped, and looked around. They then noticed too that if you looked really hard into the branches, then you could see all the fruit above them.

"Nice find Keith!" Charlie exclaimed. "How did you know that they were up there?"

Before Keith could stop himself, he said "The Pikmin said so." Too late.

The Captains all looked at Keith with an odd expression. Looked like Keith had to spill some of the truth.

"Y'see... I can kind of... understand the Pikmin."

"Wha... But how?" Brittany asked, her mouth agape.

"I just understand them. I know their language. I can't speak their language, but I can understand what all of them are saying right now." All the Captains were looking at Keith with astonishment. Keith decided not to tell them the full story about how he can understand the Pikmin just yet.

"Can you talk to them and, like... have a conversation with them?" Alph asked.

"I can try." Keith sat down in front the Pikmin and said, "Hey Flare!"

Flare raised his head in surprise, "Is the Captain talking to me?"

"Yes, I'm talking to you Flare." Flare walked forward.

"You can understand us?" He asked.

"Yes, I can. I understood you since the day I found you and all the Pikmin, but I never thought of ever telling you." That wasn't entirely true; Keith didn't understand them until the second day he was here. Everyone, the Captains, the Pikmin, were staring at him and Flare. It's as if the whole world had stopped to listen to Keith and Flare.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I-I don't know why. Maybe its because I thought of you guys at first simply as creatures that I could use for my needs. But, I think I know now that you're all living things too, with friends and a life of your own." Keith paused a bit, realizing that what he said just now was a complicated way of saying Thank You. Keith decided to say this too.

"Thank you, Flare, and all the other Pikmin too, for helping me and the other Captains with our needs. We're sorry if we ever neglected you, but we're ever so grateful that you've helped us all this way. Without all of your help, we probably would have never survived on this planet." Keith quickly felt something that he couldn't explain. Happiness? Joy? It felt something like that, but it also felt different. All of a sudden, Keith looked at the world in a whole new perspective. He suddenly came to love and respect all aspects of this wild world.

Flare stared at Keith for a few moments, his eyes very wide. It even looked as if he was about to cry. All the other Pikmin stared at Keith in the same way. Then, Flare jumped onto Keith and hugged him. All the other Pikmin also walked over to Keith and crowded around him. Some, like Flare, also jumped onto Keith and held on. Keith felt an overwhelming happiness. He had fully gained the trust of the Pikmin in his space vest form. Keith wasn't even upset anymore that he let out the secret that he could understand Pikmin; in fact, he was quite glad that he accidentally spilled the truth, as this scene wouldn't be happening right now.

The Captains were all looking at Keith, all with slightly different emotion from one another. Olimar, Louie, and Alph stood with their eyes wide open and their mouth slightly agape. Brittany and Charlie looked as if they were about to cry.

"So... will you guys still help us?" Keith asked the Pikmin.

"Yeah!" "Let's all get that fruit!"

Keith smiled at the other five Captains and said, "They want to help us. Let's throw them to the fruit then, shall we?" Keith stood up. The rest of the Captains shook off their expressions, and they helped Keith guide the Pikmin to the fruit. The winged Pikmin were easily able to reach the fruit. The yellows could be easily thrown to the fruit. The branches, luckily, were just low enough for the other colors of Pikmin to be thrown up to the branches. The yielded fruit were 5 bananas (which the other Captains called "Slapstick Crescents"), 5 strawberries (which the other Captains called "Sunseed Berries"), and one apple (which the other Captains oddly called it an "Insect Condo"). There were just enough Pikmin to carry all the fruit: 75 Pikmin on bananas, 15 Pikmin on strawberries, and 10 Pikmin carrying the apple.

They all walked back toward the ship. Keith was pelted with questions from the other Captains on the way back ("How did you learn their language?" "What did they say?" "Can you teach us to understand too?). Keith always responded with the same answer; that he just knew how to understand them and that he couldn't teach them how to understand. He did explain the conversation that went on with Keith and Flare. Brittany was crying by the time Keith explained the full conversation.

They all got back to the ship at 6:50 P.M. All the fruit was delivered to the ship.

"Thanks all of you! You're dismissed! We'll see you again tomorrow!" Keith said to the Pikmin. All the Pikmin said good night to Keith and went inside the Onion.

"Do you guys mind if I sleep in your ship tonight?" Keith asked the Captains.

"Of course!" Alph said, "We have an extra room you can use. Where did you sleep before you found us though?"

Keith, of course, made up another lie, "I would find a safe place to sleep on the planet and hope that no hostile nocturnal creatures get to me."

The Captains stepped inside the ship. Keith was satisfied but exhausted. It was a long day, and Keith wanted some rest. Alph showed Keith the extra room. It was small and all it had was a bed, but it didn't mind Keith.

When Alph left, Keith stepped inside the room, closed the door, took off his helmet, plopped down on the bed, and quickly fell asleep. Keith had dreams this time of his family. His new, colorful, leafy family.

_**Inside the Onion...**_

"Where is Kindle? I haven't seen him the entire day? Where could he have gone?" Flare asked. He was with Electra, Aqua, Poy, and Ping. He had asked the four of them if they'd seen Kindle which they answered no.

"Aarrggh! Why did Kindle have to disappear today, of all days? He could have found out that the Captain Keith could understand Pikmin!" Flare complained.

"It is weird that we haven't seen him anywhere. Do you think he's still outside the Onion?" Electra said.

"I doubt it." Aqua responded, "I didn't see him anywhere when we were outside, so he can't still be out there. And even if he was, the Captains would have found out that a Pikmin was missing."

"Hey, have any of you noticed that bag Kindle wears is always the same as the bag that Captain Keith always wears?" Poy said.

"Yeah, but maybe they just wear the same thing! I know they probably do because some of my other friends also have things that could be mixed up because they're identical. And also..." Ping said. Ping usually speaks very fast and can talk for hours at a time. She was also very hyperactive, being a winged Pikmin.

"He is _so_ getting it when he gets back." Flare said angrily.

Poy spoke up, "Ooh ooh! I've got a great prank for him!"

"_That's not what I meant!_" Flare yelled. He was losing his temper at this point. "Kindle is one of our most talented Pikmin, but he seems to also be the strangest. He always disappears when Captain Keith is around."

All five of the Pikmin pondered this. They couldn't think of a solution as to why Kindle always seemed to disappear all the time. In the end, none of them were able to think of a possible solution.

Flare sighed and said, "Let's just go to sleep, maybe he'll be here tomorrow and we can tell him the news about Captain Keith... after I scream my head off asking him where he's been."

The Pikmin imagined this scene in their heads. They went over to each of their sleeping spots, and fell asleep.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author**: Special thanks to kingalex1234, another user on the website. Some of the plot was a suggestion from him (he suggested that Keith sleep in the ship for this night, as it "could create many other story opportunities along the way, as well as give Flare another reason to yell at him"). So I give some credit to him for this suggestion. Thanks man!

Also, I know that it's a bit odd that, after updating on an almost daily schedule, I stopped updating for a few days. I have two reasons for that. One, if you haven't checked my profile (I use it to post updates), then you should know that the immense amount of homework I get takes away time for writing this story. Two, I was a bit unsure how to write this chapter. kingalex1234's suggestion helped though. I'm sorry if I've kept some people waiting.

Anyways, how do you guys think of the chapter? This is one of my more longer chapters so far. Also, now that Keith doesn't have to worry about a life-support system anymore, I'm open to any ideas that you have. I might use some ideas, I might not, but if I do use an idea, then I'll give credit to those people here.

For some of you who might be wondering why the Koppaites aren't angry at Louie for stealing their food, they are angry.


	8. Day 6

**Day 6 - Cared For**

"C'mon Keith! It's time to wake up!" Brittany yelled into Keith's room. Keith was still drowsy and was a bit annoyed that he was woken up early. That was the best sleep that Keith had ever had since he crashed on PNF-404. Keith was beginning to get used to the planet's new name. He didn't want to call this planet "Earth" as he would get mixed up with this planet, and his home planet.

Keith got up, took his satchel, and walked into the large room leading out of the ship. Olimar, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie were already outside. Only Louie was still in the room. He looked somewhat sad to Keith, as Louie's head was drooped as he walked toward the exit. He hands were behind his back.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Keith asked Louie. Louie raised his head and responded,

"I just don't want to work with them, that's all?"

"Why not?"

Louie sighed. There was a few moments of silence. Then he spoke up and said, "Has the other Captains told you yet about how I stole their food when they saved me?"

"Yeah," Keith responded, "What about it?"

"Well, because I stole their food, they expect that I help them with their research on the planet so as to 'pay off for what I've done.'"

Keith didn't see how Louie was so sad about this. This planet was so interesting, and full of so much new wildlife. If Keith had been forced along to a place like this, he would have gladly come along. Keith didn't know what to say to make Louie feel better, so he kept quiet.

There was a few awkward moments of silence between the two of them, then Louie spoke up and said, "Oh. I don't know if this is yours, but I found it somewhere before we found you." Louie put his hands in front of him, and in his hands was something that made Keith's heart jump. It was an Emergency Device: the Communications Device.

Keith ran over to Louie and snatched the device from his hands. "H-h-how... w-where...?" Louie didn't answer, but it didn't matter. Keith was so happy that he finally found another Emergency Device.

"I don't know how or where you found it, but this _is _mine. Thank you for returning it to me." Keith said, "Also, if you don't mind, can you quickly leave the ship right now so I can see if it still works?" Keith asked Louie.

A note of suspicion crossed Louie's face, but he didn't argue, so he exited the ship. Keith was now alone in the ship, where he could use the Communications Device. Keith pressed a button labeled _Connect with Home Universe_. He waited for someone to respond, and the screen finally lit up, with one of science team's face on the screen. It was a girl that Keith knew whose name was Amanda.

"Hello?" Keith said in English. It felt so weird to be speaking in English again after speaking in Hocotatian and Pikmin for the last five days.

"W-who are you?" Amanda asked in a slightly scared but affirmative tone.

"It's me Amanda! It's Keith!"

Amanda face lit up in surprise. "That's you Keith!? I'm sorry I didn't recognize you; you look different because you're not in your human form, but... you're still alive?" Amanda's voice went into a hush as she said that last part.

"Yes I'm still alive. A _lot _has happened since I was gone." Keith told Amanda how he had crashed on the planet when he wanted to land on it and how he lost his Emergency Devices because of it.

"Your ship crashed _and_ you lost the Emergency Devices we gave you!?" Amanda said in a bewildered tone. Keith nodded his head.

"Then how are you able to speak to me right now?" Amanda asked.

"I found two of Emergency Devices; the Form Changer and the Communications Device."

"How?"

"I found these creatures called 'Pikmin.' They're really kind and helped me to find the two Emergency Devices." Keith explained.

"You found nice creatures called Pikmin? Those sound familiar, as if..." Amanda's eyes suddenly grew wide in astonishment. "Keith! Did you say Pikmin? Are they small, come in many colors, have flowers on their heads, and look exceptionally cute?" Amanda asked.

"Y-yeah! But how do you know-"

"There are video games about them!" Amanda interrupted, "You used to play the games all the time, and even drew pictures of the Pikmin!"

Keith became very confused. There were video games back on Earth about these creatures? "I... I don't remember playing those video games." Keith said.

"Well, it was before you had, y'know... amnesia."

"Oh..." Keith didn't usually like to stay on the topic of his amnesia. It made him feel queasy. Practically everybody on Earth knew of the awful and terrifying event that had happened, causing Keith to lose his memories.

"By the way Keith," Amanda said, probably to change the subject, "we have an update for the Form Changer that should be ready in a few hours."

"An update? What does it do?"

"It will do three things. One, you would be able to use it and turn back into human form. Two, it allows you to change the size of your body, other organisms, and non-living objects. And three, it will scan organisms a _lot_ quicker and, instead of having to wait an hour to change form, it will instantly change your form."

"So what your telling me is that I can turn back into a human... and still be an inch tall?" Keith asked.

"Yes! Although, why would you still want to be an inch tall, Keith, when you could explore the world at your regular size?" Amanda asked. Keith explained how he met five other explorers on the planet, and how he still wanted to be with them and the Pikmin.

"I also don't want to crush the Pikmin and the Captains." Keith said.

"Oh, okay." Amanda said, "I have to go. Make sure you find the Wormhole Transmitter, the last Emergency Device! It's the only way you'll be able to return back here! Good luck, and make sure you contact us again in a few hours so you can receive the update! I'll tell Max and the others that you're still alive." With that, Amanda ended the transmission.

Keith put away the device into his satchel, and exited the ship to the outside. They were in the Garden of Hope again today and it was about 2:00 P.M. All the captains were gone when he got outside. He took out the KopPad that Alph had given him. He saw that the Captains were all in various places around the map. He also noticed that 70 Pikmin were out and about today.

Keith put away his KopPad and walked up to the Onion, calling out 21 Pikmin, 3 of each color. A lot of the Pikmin were quite happy to see that Keith was leading this group today. Of the Pikmin he knew, he spotted Electra, Hep, and Rok in the group. Keith decided to increase the Pikmin numbers today. He spotted numerous Pellet Posies in the area. Keith guided the Pikmin to these Pellet Posies, where the Pikmin used them to reproduce. Keith noticed after a while that he didn't need to use his whistle to guide them. He could simply tell the Pikmin what to do, and they'll do it. Keith had never really felt like a leader in his life ever. But today, he felt as if he was really leading the Pikmin into something for a great cause.

By the end of the day, Keith had lifted the numbers of the Pikmin from 174 to 402. At about 6:15 P.M., all the Captains met back at the ship. Keith decided to ask them something.

"Hey, do you guys mind if I sleep on the planet for tonight?" Keith asked the Captains. Keith didn't _really_ want to sleep on the planet; he was just making that up. What Keith really wanted to do was turn back into a Pikmin and sleep in the Onion tonight, just to see how the Pikmin were doing.

The Captains looked surprised that Keith would even bring up such a question.

"Sleep on the Planet tonight? But you'll die!" Brittany exclaimed.

"I survived the nights before I found you." Keith said. _Another lie. How long am I going to keep this up? _Keith wondered.

Alph spoke up, "I guess you can sleep on the planet tonight if you really want to, but why do you want to?"

"I just want to see something." Keith said.

The five Captains reluctantly let Keith go, and they went back inside the ship. Keith walked about 100 steps away from the ship and the Onion. _The Onion should launch in about an hour_ Keith thought to himself, _I can probably receive the update for the Form Changer so I can change form faster... but I think I'll risk just changing form right now._

Keith took out the Form Changer, and set it to change into a Pikmin. Keith felt his body once again changing form.

* * *

_Damn it! Damn it damn it "_DAMN IT!" Keith was furious. The Form Changer had an unexpected delay, causing it for Keith to finish changing form at 7:30 P.M. Keith wished that he had just received the update first, then changed form. _How could I have been _so _stupid? _Keith thought. Keith ran as fast as he could toward where the ship and the Onion should have been. When Keith got there, they were already gone. Keith was now stranded and alone in the middle of the night.

And he could hear the nocturnal creatures begin to awaken.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I do own Keith though

**Note from Author**: This is a somewhat shorter chapter then I usually write, but it has a cliffhanger! And who doesn't love cliffhangers more than the authors? The next chapter will be about Keith on the planet during night time. As I said last chapter, I'm still open to ideas. Also, for those of you who think that the story will end soon because Keith only has one more Emergency Device, it won't end soon. :). There's still a lot more of the plot that's on its way.


	9. Darkness of Day 6

**Note: **Three new characters introduced in this chapter (Alex, Bulby, and Bulby's caretaker) do _not_ belong to me. They are characters owned by kingalex1234, another user on the website. They originally appeared on his story "The World Beneth Us." I put them in as a suggestion made by him.

* * *

**Darkness of Day 6 - Knowledge of the Bulborbs**

_**Back on Earth...**_

It was 8:30 P.M. on Earth. Max was sitting in front of the screen of the where he waited for Keith to send a transmission on the Communications Device. The Communications Device was a one-way signal; Keith could send a transmission to the science team, but they couldn't send a transmission to Keith.

Max was wondering when Keith would send a transmission, or even if he was still alive and Amanda was just lying about the whole "Keith is still alive!" thing that she was shouting. The science team already had the update for the Form Changer ready to go, but they just needed to wait for Keith to send a transmission so they could send the update.

Suddenly, the screen lit up, saying, _Incoming Transmission: Accept or Decline?_ Max accepted the transmission. He expected to see Keith's face on the transmission, but it was too dark to see anything.

"Hello?" Said a voice on the screen. It was Keith's voice.

"Keith? Is that you? So you _are _still alive! It's Max! Why can't I see you though?"

Keith was panting hard on the other side of the transmission. Max was getting worried about Keith.

"Um... Keith? What's happening?" Max asked

"Max... I need the update to the Form Changer _now_. It's-" His voice was cut off when a frightening sound suddenly came into hearing. It sounded like some kind of monster to Max. Keith was beginning to breathe harder and his voice had obvious desperation.

"_Please_! Send the update _now_!" Keith begged.

"O-o-okay!" Max pressed a button to his left that would send the update. "I sent the update! Now all you have to do is press a button on the Communications Device saying 'Receive Update.'" Max heard a click as Keith pressed the button. After that, Max heard Keith groan.

"_Ugh!_ Max! It says that the update is only 1% complete! How long it this going to take!?" Keith was truly desperate at this point; Max could hear it in his voice. He's never heard Keith sound this worried before.

"Just give it some time Keith!" Max assured. The update was a third of the way complete when Max heard another frightening sound on Keith's end of the transmission. It sounded really close... and really hungry.

"Damn it Max! I have to go _now_!" Keith yelled.

"No Keith! The update is only 33% complete! If you end the transmission now, you'll only receive one of the three features from the update!"

"Fine! I'll stay and-" Keith stopped abruptly. "_OH F-_" The transmission suddenly ended, cutting off the update. There was a long quiet silence.

"Keith?" Max said at the blank screen. He became very worried. He checked which feature of the update was able to successfully get to Keith. Only one feature made it through; the feature that allowed the Form Changer to scan organisms faster and also changed Keith's body instantly when changing form, instead of having to wait an hour. To Max's disappointment, Keith did not receive the feature allowing him to turn into a human, and the feature allowing him to change his size.

_**Back on PNF-404...**_

_Run._

_ Keep running._

_ It's after me._

_ It wants me._

_ And it wants me dead._

Keith was running for his life away from the giant bulborb he saw. Before Keith had contacted Max, he changed back to his Captain form, so he would be able to speak English when he contacted Max. Keith had to end the transmission and run when he saw the bulborb.

Now that Keith was running away from the bulborb, he felt so _helpless_. Keith wished that he had the Pikmin to protect him. But this time, they weren't here to help him. He was on his own.

1 minute. 2 minutes. 5 minutes. 10 minutes. Keith kept running. He lost his sense of time by 20 minutes. Was the bulborb still after him? Keith slowed down. He couldn't hear the bulborb going after him anymore, so he stopped, and sat down.

Keith took out the Form Changer. On the screen, it said,

_Partial Update Received  
__Features Obtained: 1  
__Feature will allow this device to scan organisms quicker, and will instantly transform the host's body when changing form._

Keith was disappointed that he didn't receive the feature allowing him to turn into a human, or the feature that allowed him to change his size. He decided not to complain. He'll just contact Max again, and receive the rest of the update. He searched his satchel for the Communications Device... only to find that it wasn't there. _What the? Where did it it go?_

Then Keith remembered. He had dropped the Communications Device back at the landing site, when the bulborb had found him. Keith was most definitely _not_ going back there. Keith sighed and a wave of despair came over him. He would have to find a way to survive the night.

_ I don't think I'd be able to find a place to sleep. It's probably too dangerous. At least I had a good sleep this morning._ Keith was still full of energy. He assumed this to be because of the good sleep he had in the morning, and because he didn't do much work earlier today.

_Oh, what can I do? How am I going to survive with only the Pikmin and Captain form... wait a minute... form._ Keith suddenly had an idea in his head, but it was going to be very risky. He got up and quietly began to walk around the area. Pretty soon, Keith found what he was looking for: a bulborb. This was a large bulborb, and to its left was a small bulborb.

Keith took out the Form Changer and set it to scanning mode. Very slowly, he snuck up behind the large bulborb. Keith noticed to his right a weird, dark mound. He ignored it. The bulborbs hadn't noticed Keith's presence yet. Using this to his advantage, Keith scanned the large bulborb. The bright light of the scan quickly washed over the bulborb. The bulborb suddenly turned around, and noticing Keith's presence, let out a sort of roar. The scan finished quickly, so Keith turned around and ran as fast as he could.

Unlike the last bulborb, however, this one was determined, and ran after Keith at a much faster speed than the last bulborb. Keith picked up the pace. He ran for 15 minutes, and the bulborb was _still_ going after him, although it was probably about half a mile behind Keith.

Keith decided to stop quickly. He set the Form Changer to turn into a bulborb, and changed form.

The science team was right. Changing form now only took a second for Keith's body to change. The only problem was that changing form now actually hurt. Actually, hurt is a mild way of putting it. In the one second it took to change form, Keith felt as if all the pain of hell had compressed itself into that one second. Then, the pain was gone, and Keith was now a bulborb.

It took a few seconds for Keith to realize that he had no arms. It felt really odd to be without them. Keith also found out that he couldn't pick up his satchel; he didn't have arms to be able to and it was too small to fit around his body anyways. The Form Changer had grown to accommodate Keith's new size.

Keith heard the footsteps of the bulborb behind him. Keith turned around and saw the bulborb run after him.

"Hey! Did you see where that Captain went?" The bulborb asked. Keith flinched. He didn't realize that the bulborbs had a language too. _Do all creatures of this planet have a language?_

"..." Keith didn't know what to say, so he kept quiet.

"Did you eat that Captain that ran past?" The bulborb inquired.

"Um... y-yes... I-I ate the Captain." _Because that makes sense. _Keith thought, _That I was somehow able to eat myself._

The other bulborb made a disappointed face. "Aw man! I was so looking forward to a good meal!" The other bulborb complained, "Oh well. Guess I shouldn't complain. By the way, what's your name?"

"..." Keith stayed quiet. He usually stayed quiet when meeting new people.

"Shy huh?" Bulbous said, "Well, my name's Bulbous! Why don't you come with me? I have a friend waiting for me." With that, Bulbous walked away. Keith was going to follow him, when he remembered his satchel. He was reluctant to leave it, but Keith decided that he would just have to leave it be. _I can't pick it up anyways. I'll get it later once I survive the night. For now, I might as well follow Bulbous._

Keith walked with Bulbous back to the place where Keith had scanned the Bulbous. The smaller bulborb was still there.

"This is my friend! I take care of him." Bulbous said. The smaller bulborb ran up to them. "Who's this" the small bulborb asked.

"He won't say. He _did_ however steal the meal that was _supposed_ to be mine."

One of the small bulborbs came up to Keith and said, "Hi! I'm Bulby!" _That's a cute name._ Keith thought.

"I want to show you one of my friends, Alex!" Bulby said. _Alex? That sounds like a human name. _Keith thought.

"So whose Alex?" Keith asked, sweeping his gaze around the area.

"Oh! You think Alex is a bulborb? He's not!" Bulby said. _He's not a bulborb? But..._

"Come here! This is Alex." Bulby ran over to a dark mound to Keith's right. It was the same dark mound that Keith saw when he was scanning Bulbous. Keith walked up to the mound.

"Oh! Oh my God!" Keith was so astonished at seeing Alex that he even stumbled back a bit. Keith had expected Alex to be a bulborb, but instead, Keith saw in front of him a male human. He looked to be about 15 to Keith, and he was just sleeping peacefully on the ground. Questions began pouring itself into Keith's mind. How was there a human here? And why was he only an inch tall? How did he befriend the bulborbs? Keith realized that the only way to get those answers was to communicate with him. But he didn't want to talk to him as a bulborb, he wanted to talk to him as a human.

"I-I have to go." Keith said. Keith began to walk away from the group.

"Hey! Where are you going?" Bulbous asked.

"I just need to go somewhere!" Keith responded. He then ran away from the group. Seeing Alex filled Keith with a rush of adrenaline. The prospect of another human being on his planet made Keith want more and more to communicate with him. Keith hurried back to where he dropped his Communications Device, picked it up with his mouth, and hurried back to where he left his satchel and the Form Changer. When he got to his satchel, Keith dropped the Communications Device and, using his foot, Keith set the Form Changer to turn back into Captain form.

Keith was determined when he was finished changing form. If this human Alex could befriend the bulborbs, then surely Keith could too, right? But Keith realized that he could only do that as a human If he came back as a Captain, Bulbous might chase after him again. So Keith picked up the Communications Device, and contacted the science team.

"Keith? What are you doing? It's the middle of the night here. Did you escape from that weird monster?" Max asked drowsily as the screen lit up.

"Yes, it's me, and I did escape. Max, can you send the rest of the update now? I'll explain everything that's happened to me later, but just send the update." Keith said. Max did as told, and in a few minutes, Keith had the full update to the Form Changer. "Thanks Max! I'll contact you later, but for now, I need to go." Keith ended the transmission.

Keith picked up the Form Changer. The screen now said that it had obtained two more features. One that allowed Keith to change into a human, and one that allowed him to change the size of his body and other organisms. Satisfied, Keith set the Form Changer to turn into a human at the size of one inch. _I could be a human at my regular size, but I want to see this Alex. _With that thought, Keith changed form.

_ It feels _so _good to be a human again. _Keith thought. He no longer had to wear that helmet to protect him from oxygen. Keith was surprised at first when he first found out that Hocotatians and Koppaites couldn't breathe oxygen, resulting in them having to wear a helmet. It was Alph who told him two days ago. Now, however, Keith could finally breathe in the fresh night air. He could smell the nature and the earth around him. It also felt good to finally be in his familiar body again. Keith picked up the Form Changer and the Communications Device, put them in his satchel, and walked back to where the bulborbs were. When he got there, Keith stopped. Did he really want to do this? He was risking his life here. But Keith decided to take the risk. He wanted to ask Alex why and how he came to be an inch tall.

Keith walked behind the bulborbs and shouted "Hey!" in English. The bulborbs spun around. Keith's heart stopped for a moment, but he stayed his ground.

"Are you talking to us?" Bulbous asked.

"Yes, I'm talking to you. I can also understand you." Keith said.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Keith."

"Keith?" Bulbous said, "How do we know if we can trust you? What do you want from us?"

"I promise I won't harm you or your smaller friend." Keith said, trying to sound as kind as possible. "I just want to see your friend there. Alex, correct?" Keith indicated toward where Alex slept.

"I'm still not sure if I can trust you. You might harm Alex."

"I said that I'm not going to harm anyone! I'm starting to think twice about you though." Keith said sarcastically. He instantly regretted it.

"What did you say!?" Bulbous said, closing in on Keith. He tried to attack Keith, but Keith was able to quickly jump out of the way at the last second.

"I-I didn't mean it! I told that you that I-"

"You just came here to harm us, didn't you?" Bulbous interrupted.

"I _said_ that I won't harm you!" Keith was now yelling at Bulbous. "I just wanted to see your friend!" Keith ran a bit farther away from Bulbous, but Bulbous caught up with him and pinned him down with his foot.

"Let go of me!" Keith screeched. _Effing great. Just fantastic. I blew my chance at being able to communicate with another human in person, and now I'm probably going to die right here and now!_ Keith thought angrily. He braced himself for whatever Bulbous would do to him.

And suddenly, Keith heard a voice.

"Bulbous, stop it!" _Was that Bulby?_ Keith wondered. _No, it can't be. That was a human voice and it spoke in English. But if that's the case, then that must mean..._

Keith felt Bulbous take his foot off him. Someone gripped his arm, and Keith was lifted to his feet.

"Sorry about him. He's just trying to protect me and Bulby. I'm Alex, by the way. Who are you?" Keith looked to his right, and saw that Alex was now awake and standing next to him. It took a moment for Keith to find his voice, but when he did, he said,

"T-Thank you. My name is Keith." Keith was still a bit shocked that he had survived that. _Well actually, I didn't survive that. Alex luckily woke up right before I was going to become bulborb dinner._

"Hey, you're not wearing a helmet. Does that mean that you're a human like I am?" Alex asked. Keith nodded his head. "Cool! So why are you here?" Keith explained how he saw another human and wanted to speak with him. Alex narrowed his eyes at Keith and said, "I think there's more to your story than that." He said.

Alex yawned and his eyes began to droop. "I think we can exchange stories tomorrow, but for now, why don't we get some rest?" Keith simply nodded. He still felt scarred from the scenario that happened just a few seconds earlier. Just then, Keith realized how tired he was. All his energy was used up, and he wanted more than anything to lie down and rest.

"It's okay Bulbous! He's safe! He'll sleep near me tonight." Alex told Bulbous. _How does he understand the bulborbs?_ Keith wondered. _I guess I'll find that out tomorrow morning._ Alex went back to his sleeping spot and fell asleep. Keith set up a sleeping spot a bit farther away from Alex. He set up his satchel as a pillow and laid down. It took a while for Keith to fall asleep, as Keith could feel the stares of Bulbous and Bulby pierce through him.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Bulby, or Bulby's caretaker, Bulbous. Those characters are owned by kingalex1234. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author**: I was originally going to have Keith and Alex exchange stories in this chapter, but I decided to save it for next chapter. Also, special thanks once again to kingalex1234 for allowing me to use his characters in my story and for beta reading this chapter. He suggested that I put Alex in my story, and I happily agreed. This chapter turned out to be a lot different then I had originally planned it to be. Those of you who read kingalex1234's stories may have noticed that Bulby's caretaker now has a name. I made up the name, but the character is still owned by kingalex1234. If you haven't read his stories yet, go read them! They're really good! So, what do you guys think of the chapter? I will accept any feedback, positive or negative!

Oh, and if for some reason you're too lazy to go read kingalex1234's stories (yes, I'm talking about you Sableye), then you can ask me via a PM or something like that and I can explain a bit more. Though, shame on you if you didn't read his stories because you're too lazy to!


	10. Day 7

**Note: **More characters introduced in this story are, once again, not owned by me, and are owned by kingalex1234. What are these characters, you ask? Read the chapter!

* * *

**Day 7 - Another Onion**

When Keith woke up, he had the sensation that he wasn't where he was supposed to be. Why was there grass everywhere? And was that a bulborb just within arm's reach? Then Keith remembered what had happened the night before, when he had made the stupid mistake of changing form right before the Onion was going to lift off. _At least I made some kind of discovery. _Keith thought, _I found another human here, although he seems to also be an inch tall. Are all humans on this planet an inch tall, or is it just him? _With that thought in mind, Keith got up.

"Hey, you're finally awake!" Alex said. He was playing with Bulby. Bulbous seemed to be sleeping. Keith walked toward Alex and Bulby. When he got to them, Bulby ran up to Keith.

"Can you understand us?" Bulby asked.

"Yes, I can." Keith responded. Bulby's eyes grew wide.

"You're just like my friend Alex!" he exclaimed. Alex looked a bit surprised himself.

"You can understand them too?" Alex asked, "Maybe we should exchange stories now. As I told you last night, my name is Alex." Alex told Keith everything. He told him how nine years ago, an invention he made accidentally shrunk him down to the size that he is now. He told Keith that he had helped Olimar find his ship parts, helped Olimar and Louie to pay off the Hocotate Freight debt, and how he even helped Alph, Brittany, and Charlie to find fruit for their home planet the first time they came here.

Keith was a bit shocked that Alex had just told his entire story to Keith. If Keith had to tell his story, he probably would have made up some kind of lie. _Maybe Alex is also lying to me, and this is just a made up story. _But Keith didn't think that was the case. He could see in Alex's eyes and tone that all this was the truth; and it left Keith bewildered. Keith was also surprised that he lived here for nine years. Didn't he miss his family? Keith wondered if Alex even remembered his family anymore.

"So, you made an invention that could shrink down to size when you were _six_ years old?" Keith wondered how a person so young could make such a machine. It sounded a bit farfetched to Keith

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Alex asked, a confused look on his face, "I was 15 back then. I should be 24 years old." Keith raised his eyes.

"Are you sure? You still look 15 to me." Keith said. Alex looked even more confused, so Keith decided to change the subject.

"Anyways, you helped all those Captains?" Keith asked.

"Yeah."

"But, they never mentioned you to me." When Keith said this, Alex's eyes grew wide in astonishment.

"You met them?" Alex asked with a slight excited tone in his voice.

"Yeah, about that... Let me tell you how I got here." Keith decided that he would tell the truth. Alex seemed trustworthy, and Keith wanted to finally tell the truth to at least _someone_ on this planet.

So Keith told Alex about how there were whole other universes besides this one. He told Alex how, back on his home universe on his version of Earth, Keith and his friends found out that these other universes existed. He explained to him how forms worked and of Keith's three Emergency Devices, and how Keith turned into Captain form and investigated this universe. He described the events that happened after Keith had crashed on PNF-404; how he found the Pikmin and the Captains, who agreed to help Keith find his three Emergency Devices to escape, and how Keith had already found two of them. Keith said that he was able to turn into a Pikmin, and even slept in their Onion for a few days. Keith even told Alex how he had lied to both the Captains and the Pikmin about who he really was. The whole time, Alex didn't make a single comment. Even Bulby was listening to Keith's story.

When Keith was finished talking, Alex just stared at Keith, as if trying to make out all of what Keith had said. Bulby spoke up first,

"So that bulborb that visited us last night... that was you? And the Captain that came was you too?" Bulby asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah. That was me. Both the bulborb and the Captain." Keith was surprised that a bulborb was able to make sense of all this. _They must be a lot smarter than I originally thought._ Keith wondered to himself. Alex finally spoke up,

"You said that you're able to turn into a... _Pikmin_?" Keith nodded his head. "Can I see you turn into one?" Alex asked.

"Oh, um... sure. Why not?" Actually, Keith could think of a reason why not, but he didn't want to say it out loud.. Bulbous was sleeping right behind Keith. If Bulbous mistook Keith for an enemy... Keith shook off the thought. He took out the Form Changer and set it to change to Pikmin form, while Alex and Bulby watched intently. Keith pressed the button to change form, and in a second, Keith turned into a Pikmin.

Alex stared at Keith, while Bulby walked up to Keith and monitored him. Keith unintentionally took a step back. Keith was a Pikmin, and there was a bulborb right in front of him. Two things that don't mix.

"I won't hurt you!" Bulby promised. So Keith stayed his ground. Alex still hadn't said anything, so Keith decided to speak to him.

"Hey, Alex. Can you understand me?" Keith asked in the Pikmin language. Alex nodded his head and said,

"Yep! I can understand all the native creatures of this planet." This time, it was Keith's turn to be astonished.

"Really? But how can you understand all of them?" Keith asked.

"I don't know. I just know how to." _Well that wasn't very helpful._ Keith thought.

"If you don't mind, I'm going to turn back into a human." Keith said. He set the Form Changer to change back into a human. When Keith was back in his human body, Alex asked him a question.

"So you said that the Captains are back on the planet, right now?"

"Yep," Keith responded, "They even game me a KopPad so I can communicate with them." Keith took the KopPad out of his satchel. Before he contacted Alph, however, Keith turned back into Captain Form.

"Why are you doing that?" Alex asked.

"They've only seen me in my Captain form. Do you think they'll recognize me if I sent them a transmission as a human?" Keith waited for an answer, but none came. "Exactly. I might tell them the truth when I return to them, but for now, I'll just contact them as a Captain." When Keith turned back into Captain form, he sent a transmission to Alph. Soon, Alph's face lit up the screen.

"Oh, Keith! You're still alive!" Alph exclaimed.

"Yes I'm still alive. I also found somebody else while I was here." Keith turned the KopPad so that Alex's face appeared on the camera.

"Who's..." Alph's face suddenly lit up. "Alex! You're still on the planet! How are you!" A wide grin broke onto Alex's face.

"I'm fine Alph!" Alex said, "Is Brittany and Charlie with you?"

"Yeah! Olimar and Louie are here also." Alph called to the other four captains, and soon all five of the Captains had their face on the screen. They all looked pretty happy to see Alex. Alex looked pretty happy to see them too, but he was mostly excited to see Olimar.

"Olimar!" Alex said.

"Alex! It's good to see you." Olimar responded.

"Keith! Where are you two?" Brittany asked.

"We're both in the Garden of Hope." Keith replied, "Just land the ship where you usually do and me and Alex will meet you there."

"Ok! Charlie, go land the ship at the Garden of Hope!" Brittany commanded.

"I'm going to end the transmission now!" Keith said, and cut the transmission. "Looks like they still remember you." Keith said to Alex.

Alex looked really happy to find out that news too. Keith said to him, "So, shall we go over to them?" Keith took a few steps forward, but noticed that Alex wasn't following, so Keith turned around and walked back to him. "What's wrong?" Keith asked.

"I just want to ask you one more thing. The Onion that you stayed in. You didn't happen to meet any Pikmin named Flame, Daisy, or Aqua?" Alex asked.

"Um, no. But there was a Pikmin named Aqua." Keith said.

"Was that Pikmin female?"

"No. He was male." Keith wasn't sure where Alex was going with this, but he decided to play along.

"Good! Then that confirmed my suspicions."

"Suspicions?" Keith asked. He was now very confused. What did he mean by that?

"The Onion that you found, Keith. That isn't the Onion with the Pikmin who helped me. There's another Onion with the Pikmin who had helped me before. They told me that if I ever needed them, then they should be right..." And then Alex set off, in the opposite direction of where the ship was supposed to be.

"Alex! Where are you going? What about Bulby?" Keith shouted after him.

"Just follow me! And tell Bulby to stay where he is and that I'll come back to play later!"

"O-Okay!" Keith turned to Bulby, "Sorry little guy, but we have to go somewhere and Alex wants you to stay here, okay?" Bulby put on a face of disappointment that made Keith's heart wrench a little bit. Then he turned into human form, and ran after Alex.

"Hey, you turned back into a human!" Alex said.

"I can run faster as a human." Keith explained, "Now what do you want to show me?"

"Just follow me. The other Onion should be around here."

_The other Onion? What is Alex talking about? _Keith didn't say anything and just ran behind Alex. They took twists and turns. They even encountered some monsters on the way, which they avoided. Finally, they reached their destination after 10 minutes. What Keith saw shocked and confused Keith.

It was just as Alex said; it was another Onion. Keith could tell that it wasn't the same as the Onion that Keith was familiar with, as this Onion only had 5 colors swirling around the Onion. The purple and white colors was missing from this Onion. "W-Wha...? There's another Onion here?"

Alex beamed. "This is the Onion where the Pikmin that helped me live in. The Onion that you're used to must have been a different Onion." Alex walked up to the Onion and called out... the leaders to each Pikmin color? _What does Alex mean by that?_ Keith wondered.

Soon, 5 Pikmin came out, one red, one yellow, one blue, one rock, and one winged. They all saw Alex, and they tackled him to the ground. It was a giant, colorful group hug, with Alex and the 5 Pikmin. Keith listened to what the Pikmin were saying.

"Alex!" "We missed you!" "Why haven't you come to us in such a long time?" Keith could hear that the Pikmin were obviously overjoyed at seeing their friend. The red Pikmin disbanded from the group and noticed Keith's presence.

"Hey Alex. Who's that?" the red Pikmin asked Alex. All the other Pikmin soon began to notice Keith, and they all stopped with their group hug and stared at Keith. Keith suddenly felt very shy, and avoided eye contact. _I probably look _really_ stupid right now._ Keith thought. Thankfully, Alex saved him from further embarrassment.

"That's Keith. He can understand all of you, just like how I can!" Alex explained. The five Pikmin had gathered in front of Keith. "You can understand us too?" They asked. Keith looked at them and nodded his head. Alex walked over to Keith.

"Keith, these are the leaders of this Onion. Flame, the red Pikmin, he leads the red Pikmin. Daisy, the yellow Pikmin, she leads the yellow Pikmin. Aqua, the blue Pikmin, she leads the Blue Pikmin. Rocky, the rock Pikmin, he leads the Rock Pikmin. And Ariel, the winged Pikmin, she leads the winged Pikmin." Keith noticed how there was another Aqua in this group, but this Aqua was female, whereas the Aqua Keith knew was male.

"Um... hi." Keith said. _Well that sounded lame. That's all I'm going to say? Hi?_ Keith thought to himself. Then he remembered that he did have something to show the Pikmin. Keith took out his Form Changer. Alex saw what Keith was about to do and nodded his head. With that, Keith turned into a Pikmin.

"Aiiieeee!" "What happened!?" The Pikmin had all stumbled back when Keith had turned into a Pikmin.

"And by the way, he has the ability to turn into a Pikmin." Alex said. The Pikmin regained their awareness, and crowded up to Keith. "Cool!" "How did you do that?" they said.

"I turn into a Pikmin with this." He showed them the Form Changer, then he turned back into a human.

"Can you use it to turn Alex into a Pikmin?" Daisy asked. Keith turned to Alex and sighed.

"Sorry Alex. If you were hoping to turn into a Pikmin, you can't. The Form Changer can only handle one host at a time. It'd be too much for the device if more than one person used it. Although, I think I'll be able to ask the science team back on my home universe to create an update that will allow multiple people to use the device, that way you can turn into a Pikmin too." Keith added. Alex put on an "OK!" face, then he turned to the Pikmin and said,

"You guys remember Olimar, Louie, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie, right guys?" Alex said to the Pikmin. The Pikmin said that they did. "Well, they're here right now, along with another Onion." The Pikmin became all excited when they heard this, but Alex wasn't finished yet. "Also, Keith needs some help too. Like Olimar, Keith crashed on the planet, and lost three devices that he needs. He already found two of them, but he still needs one more. Do you guys think you'll help Keith and the other five Captains waiting for us?"

"Yeah!" The Pikmin yelled. It sounded like they were yelling a battle cry to Keith, which he found slightly amusing. Alex smiled.

"Good! Now go back inside the Onion and follow Keith and I to where the ship is." The Pikmin agreed to this and ran back inside the Onion. Soon, the Onion launched into the air and hovered high above their heads.

Keith was surprised at Alex's leadership. "How did you get the Pikmin to do that?" Keith asked.

"I'm their best leader." Alex said, "We should head back to the ship. You lead the way Keith."

Keith began to walk toward where the ship was. A million thoughts swirled through Keith mind as they walked back, but one stuck out in his head. The Pikmin in the Onion that Keith was used to said that they helped Olimar, Louie, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie. Yet, Alex said that the Onion floating above their heads also helped those five Captains. Which story was true? Keith's brain fried when he thought about. He decided to find out later.

As the tow of them and the Onion walked back to where the ship was, Keith asked Alex something, "Do you think I should tell them the truth when I get back?"

Alex turned to Keith, "Who? The Captains or the Pikmin?"

"Both." Keith said. Alex seemed to ponder this for a moment. Then he said,

"I think you should. They've been helping you as much as they could so far, so don't you think that they deserve the truth?" Keith thought about this. He agreed that both the Captains and the Pikmin did probably deserve the truth, but if he did tell them the truth, how would they react? Keith could think of a million different reactions; would they be angry at him for lying, or would they understand that Keith had to lie? He sighed. _Oh well. Looks I'll find out when I get there. _It was getting late; it was already 3:00 P.M. And they still hadn't reached the ship yet, so Keith quickened the pace.

It was 3:45 P.M. when Alex, Keith and the other Onion made it to the ship. The Captains were still there, the Pikmin also out and ready to go, and they all looked _very_ annoyed. Charlie noticed them first.

"HEY!" Charlie yelled in a voice that somewhat scared Keith. "What took you so long? We've been waiting for hours! We even had to..." Charlie stopped though when he noticed Keith and the other Onion. The other Captains noticed too, and they marveled at both Keith and the other Onion. _Why are they looking at me so strangely? _Keith wondered.

Alph walked up to Keith and said, "Who are you?" That's when Keith realized that the Captains hadn't recognized him. He had forgotten to change back into Captain form, and he was now standing in front of the Captains in human form. _Well, looks like I'm forced to tell the truth now. Might as well get it over with. I would have had to tell them the truth at some point anyways._ Keith sighed. He noticed that Flare, Electra, Aqua, Poy, Hep, Rok, and Ping were all out of the Onion. Those were all of Keith's Pikmin friends that Keith had made while he was a Pikmin. How would they react when Keith told the truth?

Keith stepped towards the other Captains and said, "You really don't who I am?" he asked. The five Captains looked at each other, and they shook their heads at Keith. Alex was also watching, but Keith couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Do you want me to tell you my name?" Keith said. The Captains said yes. "My name is Keith." The Captains all looked really confused when Keith had said this. Then Olimar spoke up,

"Are you the Keith we met two days ago? The one where we gave you a yellow signal?"

"That was me." Keith confirmed. Olimar went on,

"But, what happened to you? Why aren't you wearing your helmet? And why do you look so different than when we last saw you?" The Pikmin were listening to what Keith had to say. They, like the Captains, were also confused as to "Why does Captain Keith look different?" The other Onion had landed at this point, and now the Captains and the Pikmin were shooting confused glances at both Keith and the Onion.

"I already told Alex all this," Keith said, "and now I think I'm going to have to tell the truth you guys too."

"The truth?" "What is he talking about?" The Pikmin were making are a large ruckus as to what Keith was talking about.

Keith retold them everything he had told Alex, his entire story beginning from Max telling Keith about the discovery of other universes, up to the point where Alex showed Keith the other Onion. Like Alex, the Pikmin and the Captains didn't make a single comment, but their expressions did change throughout Keith's story. He told them how forms worked, and he described how he had lied to them so he could gain their trust. When Keith was finished, Brittany immediately spoke up.

"You _lied to us_?!" Brittany yelled incredulously.

"Well, yeah. I kind of had too..." Keith could feel his cheeks getting warm again. This is exactly what Keith wanted to avoid: having them angry at Keith for lying to them. Flare spoke up next,

"So, _you're_ Kindle?"

"Yep. I made up the name Kindle so you wouldn't suspect anything." After Keith said this, the Pikmin began to talk to each other, like a classroom suddenly spreading a new rumor. The Captains also began whispering to each other. Keith, feeling awkward, left the group and walked over to Alex.

"Do you think I did good?" Keith asked him.

"I think you did good. And don't worry if they might be a little susceptible toward you. I'm sure they'll learn to get used to you." Alex said. This made Keith feel better.

Alph walked back up to Keith, and asked, "So you said that you have the ability to change into a Captain, into a Pikmin, or into a human?"

"Yeah. I can do it with this device." Keith took out the Form Changer and showed it to Alph. Alph inspected it, and Keith saw him, for the first time, put on a confused face.

"I can't understand the technology of this thing!" Alph exclaimed. This hardly surprised Keith though.

"Well of course you can't understand it if you just look at the outside of the device." Keith said. Alph shook off his confused face, and led him back to the group.

"Speaking for the Captains, we forgive you for having to lie to us." Charlie said to Keith.

"But, can you show us what you call 'changing form?'" Brittany asked Keith, "We're a bit curious to see if you're actually saying the truth."

"Um, okay." Keith was getting a bit tired of having to show off, but he did so anyways. He set the Form Changer to change into a Captain. When he turned into a Captain, the other five Captains and all the Pikmin stared bewildered at Keith. Alex was watching too, but he wasn't as surprised as he had already seen Keith change form before.

"Now can you change into a Pikmin!" one of the Pikmin called out. Keith did so, and now the Captains and the Pikmin looked even more bewildered. Keith turned back into a human.

"Are you happy now?" Keith asked, swinging his hands out to his sides.

The Captains nodded their heads, while the Pikmin yelled, "Yeah!" Keith felt an overwhelming relief. He had finally managed to tell the Captains and the Pikmin the truth, and sooner than he had expected to tell them. This relief made Keith also feel a soothing happiness. He smiled and said,

"Good!" The Keith checked the time. A lot more time had passed than Keith had anticipated. It was already 6:30 P.M. The Captains, the Pikmin, and Alex noticed this too.

"It's almost dark." Keith said, "we should launch soon. Alex and I will tell you more about the other Onion tomorrow."

The Captains dismissed the Pikmin. When all the Pikmin had gathered inside the Onion, Alex spoke up,

"I think I'm going to stay around for now while all of you are here. I'd like to help Keith find his last Emergency Device, because I don't really have much else to do in the planet. Do you still have space in the ship where I could rest? I sure would like to sleep in a bed for once." The five Captains looked at each other, then they said to Alex,

"Well, Keith took the last remaining bedroom that we had and-"

"I can sleep in the Onion!" Keith interrupted. He hadn't slept in the Onion in a while, and he would sure like to catch up with the Pikmin. The Captains looked at Keith with concern.

"Are you sure Keith?" they asked.

"Yeah, pretty sure. I've done it the first few days while I was here, remember?" Keith reminded.

"Thanks Keith!" Alex said. "By the way, which Onion are you sleeping in." Keith told Alex that he would sleep in the Onion that Keith was familiar with. The Captains and Alex went inside the ship. Keith noticed how Alex kept excitedly talking to Captain Olimar. _Alex looks really happy to see Olimar. I wonder what Alex sees Olimar as. A fatherly figure? Or maybe someone he looks up to? _Keith wondered. Keith turned into a Pikmin and went inside the Onion. All the Pikmin were really active when Keith got inside. When they noticed that Keith had entered the Onion, they stopped what they were doing, and they began to talk in whispers. Flare, Electra, Aqua, Poy, Hep, Rok, and Ping approached Keith. Flare spoke to him first,

"So you've been Kindle all this time, huh?"

"Yeah. I told you already." Keith said.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Electra asked.

"I told you that too. I lied because I didn't think you would trust me if I told you the truth." Keith explained. The seven Pikmin looked at each other, then they turned to him and Electra said,

"Well, we forgive you. Just promise not to lie to us about anything else again. Promise?" Keith promised. He also hoped that he wouldn't have to keep anymore secrets.

Keith yawned. He was still tired from last night. "I'm going to sleep now. I'm tired." Keith told the seven Pikmin. Keith walked back to his sleeping spot and set up his satchel for a pillow. While he was doing this, Poy came up to him.

"You do realize that, now that you told us the truth, I'm going to prank you regardless of whether you're a Pikmin or a Captain." Poy told Keith with his signature smug-looking face. Keith still wondered how Poy was able to do that face without a mouth.

"When are you ever going to give me a break, Poy?" Keith asked with an exasperated tone in his voice.

Poy merely smiled (somehow, without a mouth) and said,

"Not anytime soon! Now you just go to sleep and, if you're lucky, I might have a present for you!" With that, Poy walked away. What Poy said made Keith even more tired. He laid down his head on his satchel. It felt very uncomfortable now that there were now a load of things in the bag. Keith got used to it though, and he quickly fell into a comfortable sleep.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Bulby, Bulbous, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, or Ariel. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author:** Finally finished with this chapter! I had anticipated for it to be posted sooner, but I was caught up with homework, and I even revised the chapter several times before I found it satisfactory. Again, as I said in the disclaimer, the five new Pikmin that were introduced are not owned by me, and they are characters owned by kingalex1234. Some of you might recognize the five new introduced Pikmin from his stories. Special thanks also to kingalex1234 for once again beta reading this chapter, as he did with the last one. If there are some of you who haven't read his stories and don't understand what's going on, then read kingalex1234's stories! They're really good, and it will give you a better understanding of what's going on in my story.

Also, I would greatly appreciate it if new ideas were proposed that could be used in the story. If I use someone's idea, I'll make sure to give credit. Thank you for reading, and I'd also appreciate any criticism, positive or negative!


	11. Day 8

**Day 8 - Pikmins Meet**

Keith was still sleeping by the time the Onion had landed.

"Wake up!" Keith couldn't quite tell who's voice that was, but it sounded feminine.

"Ten more minutes..." Keith grumbled lazily. He heard a sigh from the Pikmin who told him to wake up.

"Do I really have to do this?" Keith didn't know what that meant, but he quickly felt something run through his body, and saw a bright flash of light. It hurt a _lot_.

When the sensation had left Keith's body, his entire body felt numbed. The numbness was quickly replaced with a feeling of pain. When the numbing sensation had completely left Keith's body, he slowly stood up, and saw Electra standing next to him, looking slightly guilty but also slightly amused.

"What was _that_ for?" Keith yelled at Electra.

"Well, we already landed, and you were still sleeping, so I thought I might as well wake you up." Electra responded.

"Did you have to do it with electricity? I nice, friendly shake on the shoulder would have been better." Keith sighed and picked up his satchel. Electra's look of guilt had completely passed from her face, and now only amusement was apparent.

"If you're still sleepy, I can shock you another-"

"No, no! I'm awake. I'm going to go outside." Keith went outside the Onion, where the five Captains and Alex were already out. This time, they were in a snowy region. Keith decided to change into Captain form this time. The suit would provide Keith with warmth.

When Keith changed into his Captain form, he noticed that the other Onion had also landed beside the Onion that Keith was familiar with. Keith walked up to Alph and asked,

"Why did we land in a snowy region? Don't you know that fruit doesn't really grow in this climate?" Alph just shrugged and said,

"We thought that we might as well land somewhere different. Besides, we are trying to help you look for your last device, right?" Keith realized that this was true. With everything that happened the past few days, he sort of forgot that he was struggling with his life on this planet. In fact, Keith was beginning to actually like exploring the wilderness of PNF-404, and finding out all the strange, new, and interesting things that wasn't present on Keith's home back on Earth.

Keith looked at Alex and saw that he was also wearing a space suit, but he looked... different. Alex seemed to always be looking down and twiddling his fingers. It looked like something serious had occupied his mind. Keith walked over to Alex.

"Hey," Keith said, "What happened? You don't look the same." Alex looked at Keith and said,

"Nothing..." he said. Keith didn't think that "nothing" was on his mind, but Keith decided not to push Alex further. Keith turned around and was about to walk away, when Alex quickly spoke up.

"Do you ever think about how that there could be other species of Pikmin?" Alex asked. Keith turned around and looked at him with a confused glance.

"Well... I guess it had never crossed my mind that there could be other types besides the already discovered seven. Why do you ask?" At this point, Olimar had heard their conversation and joined with them. He said,

"Ah! I remember that there was another Pikmin type that Alex and I discovered while we were searching for my ship parts. It was a greyish sort of color, and had no remarkable facial features. In fact, I hadn't found them remarkable at all, besides the fact that they could reproduce quickly! Don't you agree, Alex?" Keith looked at Alex's face. Keith could tell that he was hiding something. Alex tried his best to hide it, but Keith could see on his face that Alex was horrified at Olimar's last statement. Olimar noticed it too.

"Oh." Olimar quickly said. "I'm sorry, Alex. Are you okay?" Alex quickly shook off his horrified expression, and said,

"Yeah, I'm fine." Keith gave Alex a confused glance, but something told Keith not to question him further, so Keith moved on to the other Onion and called the five Captains over.

"Alex was the one who showed me this," Keith explained, "apparently this is the Onion that had helped all five of you. The Onion that I'm used to is a completely different one." _But still, _Keith thought, _The Pikmin in the Onion that I'm used to told me that they were the ones who had helped the Captains, yet, if Alex is correct, then this other Onion should be the one that helped these five Captains. Maybe I should ask Flare about this... I should also really stop calling this the "other Onion." I think I'll call this other Onion, "Flame's Onion" and I'll call the Onion that I'm used to, "Flare's Onion." _Keith was quickly snapped out of his thoughts, though, when Brittany spoke up.

"Do you think we should be able to get out 200 Pikmin on the field now that there are two Onions?" she proposed.

"No, I don't think that would work." Olimar responded, "The first time I was here, there were three Onions. Granted, each Onion only carried one Pikmin type each, but I could still only take out 100 Pikmin max."

"Well, it wouldn't hurt to try, would it?" Keith said. He went under the light of Flame's Onion, and called out 20 of each of the 5 Pikmin types. There were now 100 Pikmin on the field. This time, Keith went under the light of Flare's Onion and called out 10 of each of the 7 Pikmin types. To everybody's surprise, 70 Pikmin came out, and there were now 170 Pikmin on the field.

"H-how?" some of the Captains and Alex said. Keith was surprised too, but not as much as the others. They were probably used to only having 100 Pikmin on the field, but Keith had only been on the planet for a week, so he was still getting accustomed to the oddities of the planet.

"Hey, as long as it benefits us, I'm not going to complain." Keith simply said. The others also snapped out of it, and joined Keith with the two groups of Pikmin. The group of 100 from Alex's Onion and the group of 70 from Flare's Onion were staring at each other. Keith spoke up,

"Flare, meet the leaders of the other Onion. There's Flame, Daisy, Aqua, Rocky, and Ariel. Leaders of the other Onion, meet Flare. He's the main leader of his Onion." The two groups began to socialize after Keith said this, and soon they were all acting as if they had known each other for years.

"Well, at least we got that settled." Keith said to the other leaders. "So, why don't we start exploring now?" They all decided to stick together for the now, so gathering their 170 Pikmin, they set off.

As they explored, Keith learned that they were in a place that the Captains called the Distant Tundra. Keith, getting bored from simply walking around, told the group to keep exploring without him, and he wandered off on his own.

After a few minutes of walking around, Keith realized that he wasn't alone. A few Pikmin had disbanded from the group when Keith first left, and had trailed him without Keith noticing. When Keith turned around, he saw that Flare, Electra, Aqua (male), Poy, Hep, Ping, Rok, and a 12 other Pikmin had followed him, and they were hiding behind a bush.

"What are you doing?" Keith asked them.

"Well, we wanted to see where you were going. We also wanted to make sure that you weren't attacked by anything, since you're all alone, so..." Flare said. Keith was a bit grateful that they wanted to protect him, so he said,

"Okay. You can follow me if you like." The Pikmin came out of their hiding spot, and came up to Keith. Keith walked on, with the Pikmin following him. He came up to a bouncy mushroom on top of a little slope. It acted like a trampoline, so he and the Pikmin jumped onto it. They landed in a spot that wasn't reachable before. To Keith's right, there was a lime, and he ordered 10 Pikmin to return it to the ship.

Keith checked the time on the KopPad, and saw that it was already 2:00 P.M. Feeling tired, Keith told the Pikmin,

"I think I'll just take a rest right here until the end of the day. The rest of you can do whatever you want." Keith made a small mound of snow, and laid down on it. The rest of the Pikmin began to play around with each other. Electra was going around shocking other Pikmin. Ping was trying to lift other Pikmin off of the ground. Hep and Rok were battling each other.

Before Keith went to sleep, he thought of something. He decided to ask Flare about it. Sitting up, he called to Flare.

"Hey, Flare! Can you come over here?" Flare went up to Keith.

"Yeah?"

"I have a question. Electra told me that you were the ones who had helped the Captains when they first landed on the planet, but Alex told me that the other Onion also helped the Captains. How is it that both of the Onions helped the Captains?" When Keith asked this, Flare looked just as confused as Keith did.

"I-I don't know." Flare simply said. Keith expected as much.

"That's okay. I was just wondering." Keith sent Flare back to play with the others. Keith did one last thing before going to sleep. He took out his Communications Device, and contacted the science team. This time, it was Amanda who answered.

"Keith!" she exclaimed.

"Hi Amanda. Just wanted to see how you guys are doing."

"We're doing fine..." she said. But Keith wasn't sure if that was entirely true.

"Are you sure? Be honest." Amanda sighed and said,

"No. It's getting really tough here. We're trying to keep it a secret from local authorities that you're stranded on the other universe. If people found out that you're stranded there, they might think of our mission as a failure!"

"Oh. Sorry if I'm making you guys have to work so hard. I'm doing fine here." Keith said, "Also, do you think you can do me a favor? Do you think that you could make an update for the Form Changer that allows more than one person to use it?" Amanda gave a confused and suspicious glance and said,

"Why would you want an update for that?"

"Well, I found another human here that's an inch tall, and y'know... it might be cool to show him how the Form Changer works."

"Hmm... Okay, fine. We'll make an update for that. It should be ready tomorrow."

"Oh, okay! Thanks!" Keith said bye to Amanda and cut the transmission. He put the Communications Device away, and laid down. It was so peaceful, with the Pikmin playing around near him, the sky was blue with only a few clouds, and the snow was surprisingly comfortable. Soon, Keith drifted off into sleep.

When Keith woke up, he was lying in front of the ship. He had taken a long nap, as it looked like the day had almost ended. The Captains and Alex were already next to the ship. Keith got up and went over to them.

"Oh! You're awake. The Pikmin picked you up and brought you here. Electra told me that it was because they didn't want to leave you there in case a monster got to you." Alex told Keith. Keith, again, felt grateful to the Pikmin for once again caring for Keith's safety.

"Did you find any fruit?" Brittany asked Keith. He told her that he had only found a lime (which for some reason, she called the lime a "Zest Bomb"). Keith asked the Captains if they found anything.

"We did find a few fruit. But there was one thing we found that was even more interesting." Brittany said.

"While you were sleeping," Alph said next, "the KopPads detected a very strong signal from the Tropical Wilds. We assume that it might be the device you're trying to look for." Keith heart leaped a bit. Finally, the location of his last device had shown itself.

"Do you think we can go there tomorrow?" Keith asked.

"Yep! that's our plan." Alph concluded. The Captains dismissed all 170 of the Pikmin, and they all went into their respective Onion. As usual, the Captains and Alex would sleep in the ship while Keith slept in the Onion. Before Keith turned into a Pikmin, Alex came up to him. Keith decided to ask Alex something.

"What did you mean this morning? When you said about 'other species of Pikmin?'" Keith asked.

"I can't talk about it." Alex simply said, "But when you go to sleep, try to think of the grey Pikmin that Olimar was talking about." Before Keith could ask anything else, Alex turned around and walked back to the ship, and was beamed inside. Keith wondered what Alex meant by his last statement, but he shrugged it off. He turned into a Pikmin, and went up to Flare's Onion. _Maybe I can sleep in Alex's Onion someday, but for now, I think I'll just sleep in the Onion that I'm already used to, even if it has a certain naughty white Pikmin waiting for me._ With that, Keith climbed inside, and walked to his sleeping spot. Keith laid down and tried to go to sleep, but he couldn't. Keith realized that this was because he had already had a nap earlier, and now he couldn't go to sleep. Because of this, Keith got up and decided to walk around a bit.

He spotted the familiar 7 Pikmin that Keith knew, and he went up to them, just as the Onion launched.

"Oh! Hi Kindl- er, I mean Keith!" Electra said. Keith noticed that they were still getting used to having to call him Keith now, instead of Kindle. "I thought you were going to sleep."

"I can't. Remember I took a nap earlier today?" Keith reminded.

"Well, why don't we play a game until you get tired!" Poy proposed. "How about tag!" Some of the Pikmin groaned when Poy said tag, especially Hep and Rok.

"Well of course you would want to play tag. You're a white Pikmin!" The Pikmin began to argue as to what to play. Keith was interested in playing a game too, mainly because he had nothing else to do, but the Pikmin didn't seem to agree on what they wanted to play. Keith began to think about what they should play. _Maybe a game that fits the Pikmin._ Suddenly, Keith thought of a good game that they could play.

"Have you guys ever heard of Capture the Flag?" Keith explained the rules to the seven of them. When he finished, they organized all 403 Pikmin in the Onion, and split it into teams of two, with 201 Pikmin on one side and 202 Pikmin on the other. On the side with 201 Pikmin there was Flare, Poy, Hep, and Rok, and they were the red team. On the side with 202 Pikmin, there was Keith, Electra, Aqua, and Ping, and they were the blue team. There were three flags on each side, and they would have three games.

When they started the first game, it was _very, very_ hectic. It was so hectic that it was almost indescribable to tell what happened. The white Pikmin kept running around and dodging other Pikmin. The purple and rock Pikmin tackled other Pikmin to the the ground. Some of the winged Pikmin even cheated, and flew way too high over the heads of the other Pikmin, and captured the flags that way. Naturally, Poy aimed for Keith instead of the flags first, and Keith spent most of the game running away from him. By the time the first game had ended, the red team had won.

The second game was a little more organized. Keith, Electra, Aqua, and Ping came up with a strategy to win the game. Using this strategy, the blue team was able to win the second game.

Most of the Pikmin were already tired by the end of the second game. Everybody enjoyed the game. So much so that all the energy the Pikmin had were used up in the game. Because of this, the Pikmin decided just to call it a draw, and end the game off before the third game. Some of the Pikmin were disappointed that they didn't finish, but most of the other Pikmin were glad that they ended off with no clear victor.

Satisfied, Keith trudged back to his sleeping spot. He hadn't played a game like that since he was younger. Keith didn't exactly remember details of the games when he was younger, but he did remember that he enjoyed them and had fun playing them. Keith felt exactly the same when playing with the Pikmin. He had really enjoyed playing with them, and Keith even felt another emotion when playing with them, though he couldn't quite place his finger on what it was.

Keith set up his satchel as a pillow and laid down. Keith was tired now that his energy was used up. Before Keith went to sleep, he remembered what Alex had told him earlier today. He told him to think about the grey Pikmin before he went to sleep. So, as Keith began to drift off, he thought about grey Pikmin. When Keith fell asleep, he had a dream about the grey Pikmin. It didn't feel like a dream though; it felt more realistic. Keith could hear voices coming from the grey Pikmin, but Keith couldn't make out much of what they said. He did remember one thing they said though. It was a single word.

"Shattered."

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, or the grey Pikmin showcased at the end of the chapter. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author: **Sorry this chapter took so long to make, even though it's a bit short. It took me a while to make the plot for this chapter. I did enjoy making that last part of the chapter though, the one where the Pikmin played Capture the Flag. Some of the plot of this chapter were ideas given by kingalex1234. He proposed that the Pikmin of the two Onions should meet. He also proposed another idea, and it is related to the grey Pikmin at the end of this chapter. I'm not going to say just yet what the grey Pikmin are, but if any of you have read kingalex1234's stories (or read the reviews of this story), then you know who the grey Pikmin are. As I said in the disclaimer, I do not own the grey Pikmin. As I said in previous chapters, I will gladly use someone's idea if I think they're good, and I will give that person credit too. Thank you for reading this chapter, and I will also appreciate any criticism, positive or negative!

**Edit: **I changed the part where I said that there was a trampoline to saying that it was a bouncy mushroom. I don't actually own Pikmin 3, so when I saw the footage of the game, I thought that the mushroom was a trampoline.


	12. Day 9

**Day 9 – Discovery**

"C'mon, _think_!" Keith was frustrated with himself. He just couldn't remember what those grey Pikmin had said in his dream when he slept last night. All he remembered was that they were called "Dream Pikmin" but he couldn't remember anything else they said. He only remembered a single word that they said. _Shattered._

"What did they mean...?" Keith said to himself. Try as hard as he could though, he just couldn't remember what else they had said. _Screw it. _Keith thought. _I'll just ask Alex about it. He seems to know things about these Dream Pikmin. _Keith got up just as the Onion landed, and he stepped outside. They had landed in a beach-like area.

_This must be the Tropical Wilds that Alph was talking about yesterday. If he's correct, then we should find my Wormhole Transmitter here._ Keith thought to himself. He wondered if this was really it. Does his adventure on the planet end here? Keith was glad that he would finally be able to go home, but he was also sad to be leaving. In a way, he actually had fun on the planet, despite having to struggle to survive. He was a bit loath to leave the Pikmin and the Captains. Keith shook off these thoughts though; he'll have time to think about them later. He took out his Form Changer and, this time, changed into a human.

When Keith was finished changing form, Alex and the Captains still hadn't exited from the ship, so he decided to use this time to contact the science team. It was Max this time who answered.

"Hi Max." Keith said, "Do you have that update for the Form Changer ready?"

"Yeah, we do." Max replied, "We made the feature that allows two people to use the Form Changer."

"Only two people?"

"Hey! We had to make this update in a day, so all we could do in that time frame was have the Form Changer accommodate 2 people instead of just 1." Max explained, with a bit of anger in his voice.

"Okay, okay. No need to get all huffy." Keith said.

"_Anyways,_" Max continued," We do have the update ready, but there's just one problem."

"Problem?"

"Yeah... If you really want to install this feature, then you're going to have to get rid of one of the features that the Form Changer already has." Max explained.

_Get rid of one of the features? Which one should I get rid of?_ Keith wondered. He absolutely was _not_ going to get rid of the feature that allows him to turn into a human. He also didn't want to get rid of the feature that changed Keith's form in a second. _Maybe I should get rid of the feature that allows me to change my size. _Keith thought. He had only used the feature once, and that was when he wanted to make his human body an inch tall. Keith decided that he would get rid of that feature.

"I want to get rid of the feature that allows me to change my size." Keith said to Max.

"A-are you sure?" Max said a bit nervously. "If you get rid of that feature, you'll stay an inch tall forever until you return home."

"I'm sure Max. Besides, I wouldn't want to crush the Pikmin." Keith said.

"Pikmin?! So Amanda was telling the truth when she said that you're on a planet full of Pikmin?" Max asked.

"Yep. And they're really cute!"

"Lucky..." Max said, with a slightly jealous look on his face. "I've always wanted to see one of those little guys. You used to draw pictures of them all the time, y'know."

"Yeah..." _Before I had amnesia_ Keith thought. "... Anyways, can you send the update now?" Keith inquired.

"Oh, yeah! Of course. I'll set it up. Just press the button saying "Receive Update" on the Communications Device." Keith did that, and the update was sent. It only took a minute. When it was finished, Keith said bye to Max, and ended the transmission. Keith took out the Form Changer and looked at the screen, where it said:

_Update Received  
__Features Obtained: 1; Features Terminated: 1  
__Obtained feature will allow this device to accommodate [2] hosts.  
__The terminated feature allowed host to change body size._

Satisfied, Keith set up an account for Alex on the Form Changer. He added a [Red Pikmin] as a usable form on Alex's account. When Keith was finished, Alex and the Captains _finally _exited the ship.

"What the _heck_ took you guys so _long_!?" Keith asked them with annoyance plain in his voice. They looked oddly uneasy. Alph was the first to speak.

"We... uh, we encountered a problem." Alph said.

"A problem?" Keith asked. Alph looked at the other leaders. They nodded their heads at Alph, and Alph turned back to Keith.

"It'd be easier if we show you. Can you take out the KopPad please?" Keith, a bit suspiciously, took out his KopPad and turned it on. When Keith did this, Alph continued,

"Look at the map. Do you see the signal there?" Alph pointed to a blue, pulsing dot on the map. It was on the northern side of the map, next to a body of water.

"Yeah. I see it." Keith said, "But what's so special about..." Then something weird happened. As Keith watched the map, the blue signal suddenly disappeared. Then, just as quickly as it had gone, the signal reappeared, but it had reappeared in a spot on the southeastern side of the map. "Whoa whoa whoa. Wait a minute. How did the signal suddenly just go away and reappear on a completely different part of the map?" Keith asked, a bit of nervousness coming into his voice. Alph simply shook his head.

"That's our problem," Alph said, "we're not sure why the signal does that. Every few seconds, the signal disappears and reappears on a different spot on the map." When Alph said this, Keith's heart beat harder. What was this thing? Was it a ghost? The thought made Keith shudder. The others must have felt the same way too, as they were all nervous in some way or another.

"Um... why don't we try to split up in groups and find this thing?" Keith suggested. "Alex and I can search the west and southern parts of the map. Alph, Brittany, and Charlie, you can try searching the northern part of the map. And Louie and Olimar, you guys can try searching the eastern part of the map. Each group can have 63 Pikmin, 9 of each color." The others agreed to Keith's plan, and they called out 189 Pikmin. Keith and Alex got Flare and Flame, Electra and Daisy, Aqua (male) and Aqua (female), Rok and Rocky, Ping and Ariel, and Poyson and Hep in their group, much to Keith and Alex's content. Once the the seven of the leaders got organized and in their groups, they split up and began to search, Keith and Alex heading westward. After they took a few steps, Keith told Alex,

"I dreamed about those grey Pikmin that you were talking about." When Keith said this, Alex looked at Keith with his eyes wide and full of interest.

"Really? Did they talk to you?" Alex asked.

"They did but..." Keith hesitated a bit, "I don't remember much of what they said. I only remember them saying that they were called Dream Pikmin. They also said another word. I think it was 'shattered.'" Keith looked at Alex as if he might have the answers.

"I think it's safe to tell you about the Dream Pikmin." Alex said. Alex explained how he met the Dream Pikmin when he helped Olimar 9 years ago. Only Alex knew of the Dream Pikmin's abilities. Rarely, they would visit Alex in his dreams and speak with him. Alex explained the Dream Pikmin's abilities to Keith; how they could visit people's dreams to speak to them.

"Wow." Keith said, "So they're a really rare kind of Pikmin?"

"Yeah." Alex replied, "They're also telepathic. They can speak with their minds. Also, I think I know why you can't remember much of what the Dream Pikmin had said."

"Really? Why not?"

"The Dream Pikmin are kind of... what's the word," Alex thought for a moment. "Suspicious of people, in a way. They won't fully talk to a person until they know that they can trust that person."

"Oh, okay. I'm assuming that they trust you fully?"

"Yep." Alex simply replied.

They kept walking, and came up to a tin box which Keith began to climb up, until Alex shouted behind him,

"Keith. Stop!" Keith stopped just as he reached the top, and looked back down at Alex.

"What?" Keith asked. Alex looked around a bit, then said,

"This place. There's usually always a Whiptongue Bulborb and a Yellow Wollywog here. Now though, it's kind of... empty." Keith didn't see a problem with this.

"Isn't that good? It means less trouble for us. C'mon, let's keep going." Alex hesitantly followed Keith, and they both walked up the tin box, with the Pikmin following. When they got to the top, they headed south. They came up to a dead end after walking for a few minutes, but they did find a strawberry.

"Might as well get this back to the ship." Alex said. Keith went up to the strawberry and said,

"Wait. I'm hungry. I haven't eaten since I first crashed on this planet."

"You haven't eaten since you first _got here_?!" Alex exclaimed. Keith explained to Alex how he regenerates energy as a Pikmin from photosynthesis.

"But I still miss food." Keith said, "So I'll just have a little bit." Keith took out a piece of the strawberry and shoved it into his mouth.

"... _blech_." Keith said as he chewed on the strawberry. "This... tastes... _terrible!_... tastes... bitter... metallic and..." Keith stopped chewing all of a sudden, while Alex and the Pikmin watched with increasing interest. "The strawberry. Oh my-!" Keith put his hand to his throat and barfed up what had been the strawberry. Alex and the Pikmin quickly backed away from the "strawberry." Although, what Keith spit out wasn't a strawberry at all. It was now colored gold instead of red, and the gold thing was moving on its own. "Wha...What is that thing?" Keith asked, panting a little.

Suddenly, the gold thing dissolved, and slowly disappeared. The rest of the strawberry that was to Keith's left that they were supposed to send to the ship also turned into a golden blob. It too also slowly disappeared. When the "strawberry" was gone, Alex and some of the Pikmin went over to Keith.

"Are you okay?" Alex asked.

"I... I think I'm fine." Keith responded. At that moment, Keith's KopPad rang from his satchel. Keith took it out, and saw that Brittany was trying to send a transmission to Keith. Keith accepted the transmission, and Brittany, Alph, and Charlie's faces appeared on the screen. They appeared worried

"Keith! Alex!" Brittany exclaimed, "Are you two okay?! The signal said that it was at your location, but it disappeared now." Keith was feeling a little tired to talk, so Alex responded for him.

"We're fine Brittany. But we found something strange here." Alex explained the strawberry to Brittany, and how the strawberry turned out be a strange, golden blob. Alph gasped when Alex was finished.

"You... You guys don't think that it could be the... the Wraith?" When Alph said this, Brittany, Charlie and Alex suddenly became very nervous. Even some of the Pikmin who were listening with Keith and Alex became very fidgety when this statement was made. Only Keith showed a hint of confusion.

"The Wraith?" Keith asked. "What's that?"

"We'll tell you later." Charlie responded. "But right now, this place is far too dangerous. We need to regroup at the ship _now_. We'll tell Olimar and Louie, but right now, get your butts over to the ship ASAP!" With that, Brittany ended the transmission. That last statement Charlie said made Keith feel very uneasy. Why was everyone so nervous?

"We need to get back to the ship. Okay! Flame, organize half of the Pikmin, and Flare organize the rest. Let's go!" Alex said quickly. Keith led Flare and his group of Pikmin and Alex led Flame and his group of Pikmin. They began their walk back to the ship. Keith was feeling a bit faint as they walked back. That golden thing tried to take Keith's energy from his mouth. It made him feel queasy thinking about that revolting blob, and that it was in his mouth! Within a few minutes, Alex and Keith made it to the tin box, and they stopped.

"The ship is just ahead. C'mon, let's go." Alex said as they rushed down the box and ran toward the ship.

"We're here!" Keith shouted, "What happened to you guys- wait a minute." Keith stopped talking when he realized that Alph, Brittany, Charlie, Olimar, and Louie hadn't returned yet. "Where are they?" Keith said out loud.

"Take out your KopPad. Maybe we can find them there." There was a sense of urgency in Alex's voice as he said this to Keith, so Keith quickly fumbled with the KopPad and turned it on.

"Olimar and Louie's signal... they're gone." Keith said as he looked around on the map.

"Look over there!" Alex yelled, pointing to a three moving dots on the northern part of the map. "That's Alph, Brittany, and Charlie! They're running from the signal!" Sure enough, the three dots of the Koppaites were running away from a large blue dot behind them.

"Could that be the Wraith that Alph was talking about?" Keith asked.

"Probably. Let's keep watching them." Alex said. The two of them watched intently at the map. Then, all of a sudden, the large blue dot caught up with the dots of the Koppaites, and they're signals disappeared.

"Are... are they... dead?" Keith said quietly. The large blue dot that had possibly killed the Koppaites stood still for a few moments. "Alex, look." Keith pointed to a Pikmin counter at the bottom of the KopPad. It said:

_Pikmin on Field: 63/200._

"When we first started off the day, we had 189 Pikmin on the field. Now there's only 63, and we still have 63 Pikmin in our group. The other 126 Pikmin. They probably..." Keith choked back a sob "...died. And the other Captains. They're signals are gone. They could also be dead." A look of horror was displayed on Alex's face.

"Keith, look! The signal! It's coming toward us!" Alex yelled. Sure enough, the signal was heading toward the ship, and it was coming _fast_. Keith cursed under his breath.

"Oh God! I... I think we should hide somewhere. Or run." Keith said. Shoving the KopPad in his satchel, Alex and Keith ran back toward the tin box, with the Pikmin following. Keith and Alex had the Pikmin hide behind the box because they were small enough, while the two humans hid in the grass.

"Look, there it is!" Alex whispered. They saw something approaching from a red bridge to the north.

"What is that? It... it looks like... a bulborb?" Keith said. Alex recognized it immediately.

"That's an Emperor Bulblax! I fought one of those with Flame, Daisy, and Aqua when Olimar crashed on the planet. Aqua defeated it with a water gun."

"There are guns on this planet!?" Keith asked incredulously.

"I'll tell you about it later," Alex said, "But we don't have the guns right now, so it looks like we'll have to defeat the Bulblax the regular way."

"And that is?"

"Throwing the Pikmin." Keith wasn't sure about that. The giant creature looked terrifying and hideous. Keith was sure that they would lose if they tried to pick a fight with this thing.

"We can use the purple Pikmin." Alex said, "It's much easier to defeat those things with their help. But we need to sneak up on it first." Keith and Alex watched the Emperor Bulblax walk over to where the ship was. When it got to the ship, it made a sort of roar, and sat down, with its back to Keith and Alex. "There! We can sneak up on it now." Keith and Alex called the Pikmin back to their side, and they began to sneak behind the Bulblax. When they got close, Keith and Alex each picked up a purple Pikmin, and Alex yelled "Now!"

The two humans pelted the Bulblax with purple Pikmin. When they used up their 9 purple Pikmin, Alex yelled, "Most of its health is gone!" _Health? Alex can see an enemy's health? _Keith wondered. This thought was quickly shook off, as Keith grabbed more Pikmin and threw them onto the back of the Bulblax. The Bulblax appeared to be stunned, as it didn't appear to move much, and its eyes kept spinning in circles. "It's almost finished! Just a little-" Alex was cut off when the Bulblax suddenly roared, and shook off the Pikmin. Keith quickly called back the fallen Pikmin, and Alex did something that Keith almost couldn't comprehend. He charged at the Bulblax.

"Alex! _What the hell are you doing!?_" Keith screamed at him. Alex ran up to the Bulblax, climbed onto it's back, and pelted the Bulblax with punches. The Bulblax roared in annoyance, and tried to shake Alex off, but he surprisingly held on. Soon, Alex climbed up to the Bulblax's eye and delivered a few blows there. Keith tried to help him, so he threw some purple Pikmin onto the Bulblax's other eye. Soon, the Bulblax let out one last final roar, and fell to the ground. Alex jumped off of the Bulborb, and Keith whistled back the purple Pikmin.

"Alex. You helped kill that thing, but that was _really, _stupid." Keith said.

"Sorry. I have a habit of doing that. It was almost dead anyways, so I thought just a few more hits would kill it."

"How are you able to see its health?" Keith asked.

"I don't know. I think it's the contact lenses that I'm wearing."

"Oh." Keith simply said, "Hey look! The Bulblax is dissolving! It's turning into a weird gold color." Keith said. Keith, Alex, and the Pikmin watched the Bulblax turn into a large, golden blob.

"That's the thing that tried to imitate the strawberry I ate! Is that the Wraith?" Keith exclaimed. The golden blob soon began to slowly dissolve, leaving behind Olimar, Louie, Alph, Brittany, and Charlie.

"The Captains!" Alex yelled. When the golden thing had completely disappeared, Alex and Keith ran up to the Captains. "I don't think they're dead! I think the auto-sleep feature just activated in their suits. They should recover soon, but we should probably have the Pikmin bring them to the ship." Keith and Alex had the Pikmin bring the 5 Captains to the ship, where they were beamed inside. Keith was just wondering what the gold thing was, when Alex called to him,

"Hey Keith! Is this the last device you were looking for?" Keith heart leaped.

"Did you find the last device!?"

"Yeah, I think I did. But something looks wrong about it. Come here and look." Keith walked over to where Alex was, where he was observing a black thing that was on the ground. Keith heart dropped when he saw it. Keith picked up the object and looked at it.

"You're right Alex." Keith said flatly, "This is my last device, but, as you said, there _is_ something wrong with it. It's broken." In Keith's hands lay a broken part of the Wormhole Transmitter. It was supposed to be his ticket home. But he couldn't use it anymore.

It was shattered.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, or the Dream Pikmin. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author: **Yay! Finished! I'm feeling much more confident for the rest of the story, as ideas for the story have finally flooded into my head, and I also have suggestions from kingalex1234. Also, special thanks to kingalex1234 for helping me with developing this chapter. I will gladly accept any ideas from any of you, and I'll give you credit if I use any of the ideas. I would also appreciate any feedback, positive or negative!


	13. Vision of Day 9

**Vision of Day 9 – Rekindled**

_**In the S.S. Drake...**_

Charlie opened his eyes, and was surprised to see white metal floors and walls around him. _Is this what the afterlife is like?_ he thought. Charlie sat up and saw that Olimar and Brittany were also sitting up his left, and were looking just as confused as Charlie felt. Alph and Louie were still laying on the floor.

"Hey," Charlie said to both of them. "Where are we?"

"Have you really not noticed yet, Captain?" Brittany said, "We're in the Drake, in the storage hold. Didn't you see the bottles of fruit juice behind you?" Charlie turned around and saw the piles of fruit juice stacked on the shelves behind him.

"Of course I knew we were in the storage hold!" Charlie exclaimed, "I was just testing you, just to see if you're still okay."

"Sure you were." Brittany said sarcastically, "Anyways, we might as well wake up Alph and Louie." Brittany went over to Alph and shook him awake, and Olimar did the same with Louie. They both soon woke up, and like Charlie, asked where they were. Brittany explained again that they were in the Drake's storage hold.

"Oh." Alph said. "What are we doing in here then?"

"I don't know." Brittany responded.

"All I remember from before is Louie and I running from the... the Wraith." Olimar said, fear written in his voice, which was unlike him. Olimar had had the worst experience with the Wraith, and the five of them knew it. Olimar preferred not to speak about his experiences.

"I remember that too." Charlie said, "The large, golden thing was chasing after me, Alph, and Brittany. It caught up with us, and then..." Charlie shook his head, "I don't remember anything after that. I was sure that we had died."

"Well, it looks we escaped." Louie said, "And I think that's all that matters."

"But who saved us?" Brittany pondered.

"Isn't it kind of obvious?" Alph said. "There are two people who aren't here with us right now. Keith and Alex. They probably saved us from the Wraith and they brought our bodies back to the ship, which is why we're here now. They're probably outside right now waiting for us to get out." Alph's explanation made sense, and it seemed like the only reasonable explanation, so the five of them got up and exited the storage hold. From there, they headed to the exit, and beamed themselves outside.

_**In the Tropical Wilds, outside of the S.S. Drake...**_

Alex was busy getting the Pikmin organized. Keith had given him his KopPad, and wandered off somewhere, saying that he needed "to be alone." Flare, Electra, Aqua (male), Poy, Hep, Rok, and Ping wanted to secretly follow Keith and try to cheer him up, so Alex reluctantly let them go.

Alex was talking with Daisy and Aqua (female), when he saw a flash to his left, and saw the five Captains had exited the ship.

"Hey! You guys are awake!" Alex yelled happily, and ran over to them.

"Alex! You're here! Where's Keith? Don't tell me... is he...?" The way Charlie said that last part showed that he had assumed the worst.

"Oh no! Keith's not dead." Alex reassured, "He went off somewhere. We found his last device, but it was broken, so he's a bit depressed right now."

"Oh... That's too bad. Where is he? Maybe we could cheer him up somehow?" Brittany recommended.

"He said that he wanted to be alone right now, and I already sent a group of Pikmin to cheer him up, so he should be okay." Alex said, "We saved you from the signal. It was most definitely the Wraith, but it turned into an Emperor Bulblax when we encountered it. We defeated it, it turned back into a golden blob, dissolved, and left behind the five of you and Keith's broken device." Alex recapped the entire story, in just that one sentence.

"Wow. Well, thanks for saving us!" Alph said, "What are you doing right now?"

"I'm trying to repopulate the lost Pikmin. You guys lost all the Pikmin in your groups, right?" Alex asked. The five Captains solemnly nodded. "Okay. Why don't you guys help me organize the Pikmin and get as much Pikmin as we can before the day ends?" The Captains agreed to this. It was already 5:30 P.M., so they still had an hour and a half to work. As they worked, they wondered where Keith was, and most of all, how and why the Wraith had returned.

_**Somewhere else in the Tropical Wilds...**_

Keith had found a nice patch of grass to lay down on and let it all out. He didn't scream or shout at his misfortune, but simply sobbed quietly at why this had to happen to him. He was worried for his friends and family back on Earth, who were probably now very worried as to Keith's disappearance. He wondered how the science team will become once they announce to the public that the mission was a failure. Unintentionally, Keith's mind at some point turned to Alex. He wondered how Alex was able to survive here for nine years, without his family.

_He probably likes it a lot here. _Keith assumed, _I don't blame him. It is really nice in this wild, yet beautiful world. Maybe I can just live with the Pikmin for the rest of my life, and help Alex and the five Captains here. But how would my family react? _Keith probably would have been fine staying and adapting to this world, but he was worried for his family. Keith was like this a lot; he would usually put aside his own feelings for someone else's feelings, if he was close to that person. Eventually, all thoughts of Keith's family melted away, and he began to cry again as he thought of the broken device, which was laying to Keith right.

Keith fell silent for a moment, and in that moment he heard a rustle in a bush somewhere to Keith's left. He quickly sat up, and grabbed his satchel, as if he was going to be able to defeat the enemy by beating it with his flimsy bag. Then Keith noticed something in the bush. There were 7 flowers on the bush. 3 of them were white, 2 were purple, and the other 2 were lavender. Keith put his satchel down, relieved, and said,

"I know you're there, guys. You can come out y'know." Flare, Electra, Aqua (male), Poy, Hep, Rok, and Ping came out of their hiding spot, and slowly walked over to Keith. "Why did you guys follow me?"

Electra answered, "You were sad, and we wanted to try to cheer you up."

"And you think I'll cheer up if you hide there without letting me know?" Keith yelled, before realizing that he said it a bit harshly. Electra seemed to wince from Keith's statement, and Flare ran to her side.

"Hey! She was just trying to be nice!" Flare retaliated. Now Keith was feeling even more sad then when he first sat down on the patch of grass. He didn't mean to harsh...

"Sorry..." Keith said, "I'm just... upset that my device... is... is broken." Keith's voice broke on that last word, and he began to sob again with his head in his knees. Aqua went up to Keith, and said to the other Pikmin,

"You guys mind leaving for a bit? I want to talk to Keith." The other Pikmin reluctantly left, and then it was just Keith and Aqua. Aqua turned back to Keith and said, "Are you okay?"

"Does it look like I'm okay?" Keith said quietly. He couldn't see Aqua's face, as Keith's face was buried in his knees, but he could feel Aqua staring at him.

"I know how you feel," Aqua said, "I _am_ a blue Pikmin, and we're naturally sad and shy all the time. But we're able to live through it all and keep going. You have to keep yourself going Keith, or you won't be able live with yourself, and you'll fall into sadness and despair. I've seen a lot of blue Pikmin commit suicide because of the sadness and horrors that they've seen in this world, but most of us are able to get rid of the sadness around us, and move on..." Aqua stopped for a bit, then asked, "Can you please keep going Keith? For us and the rest of the Pikmin. I know that you're devastated right now, but I'm sure that there will be something that will turn around in favor of you, but you just have to keep going." Keith lifted his head from his knees and looked Aqua in the eyes. They were full of pleading, and it made Keith's heart melt. He felt much better after what Aqua had said, so Keith said,

"Thank you Aqua. I think I'm better now. I'll keep going for you guys." Keith said, smiling, "Now let's head back to the ship." Keith got up, placed the broken Wormhole Transmitter in his satchel, and with Aqua following, headed back to the ship. Along the way, Keith met up with the other 6 Pikmin, who were surprised to see that Keith was better. The eight of them then continued to walk back to the ship. When they got there, Keith saw that the other five Captains were already awake.

"Hey! You're alive!" Keith rushed over to the five Captains. Alex was dismissing the Pikmin back into their Onions. Keith also dismissed the seven Pikmin he had with him, and they went inside of their Onion. It was now just Keith, Alex, and the five Captains who were still outside.

"Keith! Are you okay?" Charlie asked.

"I'm fine. Aqua, the male one, cheered me up." Keith responded. "How are you guys?"

"We're fine. Thanks for saving us from the Wraith!" Alph said. Keith decided to asked them the question that he's had on his mind for the whole day,

"Can you guys _please_ explain to me what this 'Wraith' thing is?" Alex and the five Captains looked unsteadily at each other. Then Alph explained to Keith what the Wraith was.

"Remember when we first met you Keith, you asked us who Olimar and Louie was, and we told you that me, Brittany, and Charlie had saved Olimar from something that we called the Plasm Wraith?" Keith said that he remembered. It was on Day 5 when he asked this. "Well, that gold thing that you saw? That's the Plasm Wraith. It can change its form, and create illusions. It's almost invincible when in its true form. We managed to defeat it when we saved Olimar, but the problem is, the six of us don't know how and why the Wraith has returned." Alph finished

"Oh." Keith simply said. He didn't know what else to say.

"We can discuss this tomorrow, but right now, it's getting dark. We should head inside. Keith, are you going to sleep in the Onion?" Brittany asked.

"Yeah, I am." Keith said, when he suddenly remembered something. "Oh! I just remembered something. Alex, can you come over here?" Alex approached Keith, and Keith took out the Form Changer. "I managed to get an update from the science team that allows two people to use the Form Changer. I already set up an account for you. Do you want to see how its like to be a Pikmin?" Keith asked. Alex eyes went wide when Keith told him this.

"Really? I can turn into a Pikmin?" Alex asked.

"Yep," Keith responded, "And if you want, you can sleep in Flame's Onion if you want."

"Okay! I think I'll do it." Alex replied.

"Good! I'll set up the Form Changer." Keith set up the device while the five Captains watched with increasing interest. "Okay! It's ready. Are you?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. 3. 2. 1. Oh! And by the way, this is going to hurt."

"Wait, wha-!" Before Alex could retaliate, Keith pressed the button that would change Alex's form, and in a second, Alex had turned into a red Pikmin, and was laying on the ground.

"Um... Are you okay?" Keith asked a bit nervously. Alex slowly got up, and said in the Pikmin language,

"Why didn't you tell me that it was going to hurt?"

"I didn't think you'd want to change form if I told you." Keith replied.

"Of course I still would have wanted to change form! I mean, just look at me!" Alex looked down at his body, "I'm a Pikmin now! And I feel so much more agile!" Alex did a back flip in the air.

"Keith, what's he saying?" Brittany asked. Keith had forgotten that the five Captains couldn't understand the Pikmin language.

"Oh, he's happy." Keith replied. Keith then turned back to Alex, "So, are you going to sleep in Flame's Onion?"

"I think so, but I'm a bit nervous. Feels like the first day of school all over again." Keith was surprised that Alex still remembered experiences from his school.

"You'll do fine." Keith assured, "I'm going to sleep in Flare's Onion as usual. You should get in Flame's Onion quickly, before it launches off without you."

"Oh, yeah! I'm going. Thanks Keith!" With that, Alex climbed into Flame's Onion. Keith told the five Captains to head into the S.S. Drake, and Keith turned himself into a Pikmin, and headed into Flare's Onion. Keith wondered how Alex was going to be like with his first day in the Onion. Hopefully, not as embarrassing as Keith's first few days.

When Keith headed inside, he hurried over to his sleeping spot. It was a long day, and even if it didn't go the way Keith had planned, what with finding his last device broken, Keith decided that he would take Aqua's advice, and move on. But Keith still hoped that something extraordinary would happen, something that would help Keith return home. But right now, Keith was tired, and he figured that a nice rest would get all these thoughts out of his mind. He set up his satchel for a pillow and laid down. Keith soon fell asleep.

* * *

When Keith woke up, he immediately noticed two things. "Huh? W-where did all the Pikmin go? And why is everything in here so... grey?" The place where Keith woke up was not at all like the colorful Onion that Keith was used, with hundreds of Pikmin playing around. Instead, Keith woke up in an Onion that was completely devoid of color, and the only noticeable color was grey. Keith also noticed that he was the only one inside the Onion.

"Wait a minute... if everything here is grey, does that mean... Dream Pikmin?" Keith said out loud. _Could all of this really just be a dream? But it all seems so real! _Keith thought. Keith got up and reached for his satchel, only to find that it wasn't there. _That's weird. _Keith thought. He got up, walked to the exit of the Onion, and climbed out. He was in a densely forested area. Keith looked around and wondered, _Where the heck am I?_

"It's just a dream. This place isn't real, just a figment of your imagination." Keith spun around to the voice behind him, and saw two grey-colored Pikmin standing beneath the light of the Onion. One was a male, and the other was female _Are they Dream Pikmin?_ Keith wondered.

"Yes, we're Dream Pikmin." One of them responded. _Wha-! How are they able to...? _Keith then remembered what Alex had said about the Dream Pikmin, that they were telepathic. If they were telepathic, then they could most likely read minds. Keith suddenly felt very stupid. The female Pikmin seemed to chuckle, and said, "So you met Alex? He's a really nice person, and the first person that we Dream Pikmin have ever trusted. We should introduce ourselves. I'm Starlet, and this is Star. Star is the main leader of the Dream Pikmin, and I'm his partner." Keith decided to ask them a question.

"Um... why did you bring me here? Into this dream?" Keith asked.

"You wanted us to." Star replied.

"Huh?" Keith didn't understand how this was true.

"Before you went to sleep. You were hoping that something extraordinary would happen, something that would help you return home. We want to help, because you're a friend of Alex, and also because we've watched you, and we've seen that you've been really determined to return home. It reminds us of how Olimar acted when he first crashed on this planet. Of course, unlike you and Alex, Olimar doesn't know about us and our abilities." Star explained.

"Oh. Thanks for the offer, but how are you able to help? Unless you can fix the device, it's broken. I only a have a part of it." Keith asked.

"Why haven't you contacted your friends in the other universe, Keith?" Starlet asked.

"W-wait. How do you know about the science team, and that there are other universes?"

"Remember? We're Dream Pikmin. We have our ways." _That doesn't really explain much. _Keith thought. "There are rules as to what we can and can't tell you, Keith. Anyways, just answer my question." Starlet said.

"Well, I didn't contact them because I didn't want to tell them about the bad news."

"Why don't you tell them the 'bad news' tomorrow?" Star said.

"Why? Do I have to tell them so early?" Keith asked. Star made a sigh, and said,

"Do you remember what Aqua had told you, about how you should keep moving on, even after you're met with despair."

"Uh... yeah." Keith wondered how Star knew about that.

"One of the best ways to deal with sadness," Star continued, "is to tell others about your problem. The sooner, the better, because if you do that, there may be many people willing to help with your dilemma, and guide you in the right direction." Star said. Keith didn't see how this would help him. It's not like the people back at Earth could help Keith anyways, as they were separated from each other by an entire universe. The science team couldn't even come to save Keith themselves as that would probably take years, and a lot more money.

"I still don't see how telling them could help me." Keith said.

"You'll see in time, but right now, we ran out of time ourselves. Our time is up." Star indicated toward the sun in the sky which was slowly starting to set.

"You'll wake up in 5 seconds, Keith. Oh! And tell Alex we said hi!" Starlet said. Before Keith had time to ask them anything else, everything began to fade away. Pretty soon, everything was gone, and Keith woke up.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, or the Dream Pikmin, Star and Starlet. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though.

**Note from Author: **Another chapter finished! Thanks to kingalex1234, as he is just _loading_ me with ideas, and for beta-reading this chapter. I used his idea for putting in the Dream Pikmin. As I said in the disclaimer, I do not own the Dream Pikmin, and they are characters owned by kingalex1234.

Also, as I said in previous chapters, I will gladly use someone's idea if I think they're good, and I will give that person credit too. Thank you for reading this chapter, and I will also appreciate any criticism, positive or negative!


	14. Day 10

**Day 10 – Resting Up**

"I'm sorry! I didn't know!" Keith was running away from Poy in circles around the Onion. Man, Poy was _pissed_.

When Keith was crying yesterday, before Aqua had talked to him, Keith had found a weird purple berry next to him, which he decided to put in his satchel and see what it did later. When Keith had woken up today, Poy was still sleeping, so Keith had taken out the berry and threw it right at Poy's stem. Keith did this because he thought it would be funny, and he wanted to cheer himself up from what happened yesterday.

When the berry landed on Poy's stem, it did something that Keith didn't intend it do. The juice from the berry splattered all over Poy's flower and stem, and somehow, the juice from the purple berry hardened, and it encased his flower and stem completely in stone. Poy immediately woke up after that, and seeing his now stoned stem, Poy looked around for the culprit. All of the other Pikmin were still sleeping, all of them except Keith. When Poy saw Keith, Keith unintentionally backed away a few steps.

Poy slowly got up – his balance hindered by the weight of his stoned stem – and he walked over to Keith. Once again, Keith backed away a few steps when Poy came up to him.

"Keith," Poy growled, "what did you do with my stem?"

"I-I didn't know it was going to do that." Keith said quietly. "Um... I-I'm just gonna... go!" And before Poy could stop him, Keith made a mad dash, somewhere away from Poy.

"_Get back here Keith!" _Poy roared, waking up half of the Pikmin in the Onion. Poy raced after Keith. Luckily for Keith, Poy was slowed down by his stoned stem.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know!" Keith ran for his life all around the Onion. He felt more scared than when he fought the Emperor Bulblax a day ago. Keith wondered how a small white Pikmin could instill such fear in him.

Although Keith ran as fast as he could, Poy was still faster, being a white Pikmin, and tackled Keith to the ground.

"Poy, get off me! _Please! _I'm sorry!"

"I'm not letting you go until you tell me what you did with my stem!" Every single Pikmin had woken up now, and they were all staring at Keith and Poy. This event was now singled out as the most embarrassing moment in Keith's life.

"I threw a purple berry! It exploded and made your stem into a stone, but I didn't know! Now let me go!" Poy reluctantly let Keith go, mainly because Electra told Poy to. When Keith was released, he tried to hurry back to his sleeping spot, but Poy grabbed his stem, and pulled Keith's face close to his. "I _will_ get you back, Keith." Poy muttered to him quietly. Then, Poy let Keith go and he stormed off, leaving Keith feeling very hollow as he stood there.

As Keith walked back to his sleeping spot, Flare came up to him and said, "Are you okay? I know that you were the one who started it, but Poy shouldn't act that way toward you, after what happened with your device. Do you want me to talk to him?"

Keith sighed and replied, "No, I'm okay, but thanks for offering." Flare reluctantly let Keith alone, and when Keith got to his sleeping spot, he sat down and thought about the Onion. It's been more than a week, and Keith _still _wasn't used to life in the Onion. Maybe in a few more weeks or months, Keith will get used to it, but he wondered how he was going to be able to get used to it. Then, Keith remembered what the Dream Pikmin had said. This time, Keith actually remembered his dream and what the Dream Pikmin had told him. They had said something about telling others about his problem, and they would be able to help, but how would anyone be able to help? Keith was sure that the device couldn't repaired, and the people back at Earth would have to spend a lot of time and money to save him.

Just then, the Onion landed, so Keith went outside. They had landed in the Garden of Hope. Keith turned into a human, just as the five Captains exited from the S.S. Drake.

"Good morning." Keith said.

"Mornin' Keith" Charlie said, "You're okay, right?"

"I told you, I'm fine. I decided to move on from what happened yesterday. I'll still help you guys of course."

"That's great!" Olimar said, "We're sorry for what happened to you, but it's good to know that you're still fine." Keith smiled.

"Okay then, we should probably get started for today!" Keith said, "Me and Alex will... wait a minute, where's Alex?" Keith and the other Captains looked around, and saw that Flame's Onion had just landed. "We should probably wait for Alex to get out before doing anything. Right now, I'll take out 70 Pikmin from Flare's Onion." Keith called out 70 Pikmin from Flare's Onion, 10 of each color, and then Keith and the Captains waited for Alex to come out of Flame's Onion. Using this time, Keith decided to contact the science team. Max answered this time.

"Morning Max." Keith said.

"Hello Keith. And actually, it's not morning over here. It's actually 6:00 P.M." Max said.

"Um... Good night then?" Max laughed a little, then said,

"So why did you call us, Keith?" Keith sighed. _Here it comes._

"Um... Max, I won't be coming back home, possibly forever." Max showed a hint of confusion.

"Why? Do you like it there that much Keith?" Max said with a bit sarcasm.

"Well, I do like it here, but that's not the reason... the Wormhole Transmi-"

"Did you find it!?"

"Yeah, we did found it yesterday bu-"

"Then why didn't you tell us sooner!?"

"Well, what I was going to say-"

"What happened!?"

"Max, shut up and just listen!" Max opened his mouth as if he was going to retaliate, but he closed his mouth and folded his arms,

"Okay. What's the reason?" Max asked.

"The Wormhole Transmitter is broken." Max frowned when Keith said this.

"Broken? Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure." Keith took out the broken device and showed it to Max. Max's eyes eyes widened when he saw the broken device.

"Keith! Why didn't you tell us that it was broken sooner?" Max asked.

"I didn't want to break the bad news..."

"But we did something with that device Keith, just in case something exactly like this happened!"

"What do you mean?" Keith asked. The Captains were now listening in on Keith's conversation with Max.

"You know how your devices are called 'Emergency Devices?' We forgot to tell you, but we also added an Emergency Function to the Wormhole Transmitter, being the most important device."

"And... what does this 'Emergency Function' do?"

"Well, if the device happens to break, like what happened to you now, it can be repaired, but you need the other parts of the device, and a bit of mechanical knowledge." Max explained, "Sorry we forgot to tell you about this function, but we didn't think that the Wormhole Transmitter would happen to break." Keith didn't care at the moment that they didn't tell him this information. Hope had begun to well up inside Keith. There was still a chance for him to return home! All he needed to do was find the rest of the device parts. Though Keith didn't know about the part of the "mechanical knowledge." If Keith had mechanical knowledge, it was before his memory loss. He would have to ask someone else.

"It's okay Max," Keith said, "Thanks for telling me about the function. I was sure that I would be trapped here forever, until you told me that information."

"No problem Keith! Hope to see you return soon!" With that, the transmission ended. Keith turned to the other Captains.

"So... I assume that you guys heard about that?" Keith asked the Captains. They nodded their heads. "So... will you guys still me?"

"Of course we'll still help you!" Brittany said.

"Besides, its been really easy gathering fruit and collecting research helping you." Alph said. Keith smiled and thanked them. Then his thoughts returned to Alex.

"Where the heck is Alex?" Keith said. "It's been an hour since the Onion landed." The Captains noticed this too, and they were also starting to get a little annoyed.

"Maybe you should go check on him, Keith?" Olimar suggested.

"Um... okay." Keith turned into a Pikmin, and walked toward Flame's Onion.

"Hey, Keith! Where are you going?" Flare, Electra, Aqua (male), Poy, Hep, Rok, and Ping ran up to Keith. Poy had managed to get his stem free from being stoned, but his flower was still encased.

"I'm going to get my friend, Alex, from this Onion."

"Alex... you mean the other human?" Electra asked.

"Yeah, that's him. I turned him into a Pikmin, and he slept in this Onion for the night."

"Can we come with you?" Rok asked.

"Um... sure, why not?" Keith and the seven Pikmin climbed inside Flame's Onion. The inside was the same as Flare's Onion, but was a bit smaller, and didn't have the purple and white colors swirling around like Flare's Onion did. Keith looked around, and quickly found Alex at the center of the Onion, next to the tube. He was talking with the leaders of the Onion; Flame, Daisy, Aqua , Rocky, and Ariel. Keith and the 7 Pikmin walked over to him, while the other Pikmin in the Onion stared at the newcomers.

"Alex, why didn't you get out? We've been waiting for an hour!" Keith told Alex when he got up to him.

"Flame told me that we can't leave the Onion until a Captain calls us out." Alex said.

"You can," Keith said, "Flare told me the same thing, but you don't actually have to wait for a Captain."

"Oh, okay." Alex responded. Keith noticed that the 7 Pikmin from Flare's Onion and the the leaders of Flame's Onion were looking strangely at each other. Then, Flame and Daisy went up to Poy and asked,

"What happened to your flower?" Poy cast an evil look at Keith, and said,

"Keith here threw an ultra-bitter berry at my stem, and this happened." Keith looked down at the ground sheepishly.

"Well... I didn't know it would do that. Besides, with the way you treat me, you _kind of _deserved it." Keith realized something after he said this,

"Hey, I just realized. Alex and I never really properly introduced you guys to each other, have we?"

"We know who Flare is," Flame indicated to Flare, "but you never showed us who these other 6 Pikmin are." Flare told the leaders of the Onion that the other 6 Pikmin that were with him were close friends of the other colors. If it was too much for Flare to lead all the Pikmin colors at once, then he would trust one of the other Pikmin to lead their color. For example, Flare would have Daisy lead the yellows, or Aqua lead the blues.

"This is Daisy, Poy, Hep, Rok, Ping, and Aqua." Flare said to the leaders. The 12 Pikmin began to interact with each other.

"Well, it looks like they're really starting to get to know each other." Keith said to Alex, "Anyways, shouldn't we head back outside? The Captains are probably really annoyed that we're taking our time in the Onion." Alex agreed to this, and they exited the Onion, with the 12 Pikmin following them. When they got outside, Keith turned himself and Alex back into a human.

"Finally! You guys _really_ took you sweet time in there. It's already 12:00 P.M.!" Brittany said to them. She seemed to be the most annoyed out of the five of them.

"Well, sorry, but at least we got back out." Keith said, "We can go exploring now, if you like." They called out more Pikmin onto the field, which totaled to 170 Pikmin. They decided to split up in groups of two. One group will be of the Koppaites, and the other group will consist of the humans and Hocotatians. Each group was to have 85 Pikmin each, 12 of each color and one extra. Keith and Alex set up the groups specifically so that the leaders of Flare and Flame's Onion were in their group. The two groups then set off to explore, the Koppaites exploring the north side, while the humans and Hocotatians explored the south.

Keith's group found 3 strawberries, 2 oranges, a mango, and a lime. At 4:00 P.M., his group returned to the ship. The Koppaites hadn't returned yet, so Keith, Alex, Olimar, and Louie decided to rest until the end of the day. Keith came up to Alex and told him how his last device could be fixed.

"They said that I also needed some 'mechanical knowledge.' Do you think you could help me repair the device when we find the missing parts?"

"Sure! I'd be glad to help." Alex said.

"Thanks!" Keith walked around a bit. The 85 Pikmin were playing with each other. Keith noticed how they liked to play a lot of children's games. Some Pikmin were playing tag, hide-and-seek, or something else. Some Pikmin were playing games that matched their personality. The winged Pikmin were throwing non-winged Pikmin high into the air, and catching them again. It was mostly the Pikmin from Flame's Onion doing this. Keith also noticed how some of the Pikmin's personalities from one Onion differed from another. He saw that the winged Pikmin from Flare's Onion were zooming around, as if they had had a bucket load of caffeine, whereas the winged Pikmin from Flame's Onion seemed to be more relaxed and carefree. _Maybe when I find all the parts of the Wormhole Transmitter, I'll be able to spend more time with the Pikmin. _Keith thought.

It was 5:00 P.M., when Keith noticed something in the bushes next to the ship. There were 10 flowers there, all of which were pink. They looked like Pikmin flowers to Keith. Keith took out his KopPad, where it said on the bottom of the screen,

_Pikmin on Field: 180/200._

_That's weird, _Keith thought, _When did we get the extra 10 Pikmin?_ Alex came over to Keith, and noticed the frown on Keith' face.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked.

"Look, there are 180 Pikmin on the field, and we only started off with 170. Neither our group or the Koppaites reproduced any Pikmin. I think it has to do with that bush over there. There are 10 flowers, and all of them are pink. Keith and Alex slowly approached the bush. After looking at it, Alex said,

"Muscles? Toxic? Is that you?" Slowly, 5 white Pikmin and 5 purple Pikmin exited from the bush. "Muscles! Toxic!" Alex went over to them and said, "You're still here! But how?" A white Pikmin, who Keith assumed was Toxic, said,

"We have an Onion not far from here." she said.

"Can you show us the Onion?" Alex asked.

"Okay. But who's that?" Toxic pointed at Keith.

"Oh. He's a friend. His name is Keith."

"Uh, hi." Keith said. "Um... can we see the Onion that you mentioned please?" Muscles and Toxic agreed to this, and they led Keith and Alex somewhere on the south side of the map. Olimar and Louie asked where they were going at first, but Keith said that they were just going to explore somewhere. After a few minutes of walking, Alex and Keith found the Onion, hidden inside a cave. It didn't seem to alive at the moment, as it had no colors swirling around it, and wasn't standing on three legs. It was surrounded by a wall of fire.

"We should get this out of the cave, Keith. Can you turn us into red Pikmin?" Keith did so, and they walked through the wall of fire. Keith grabbed one end of the Onion, and Alex grabbed the other. Normally, it would take three Pikmin to carry an Onion, but because Keith and Alex had the strength of a human, which was about 3 Pikmin, the two of them were able to easily lift up the Onion, carry it though the wall of fire, and bring it outside where the 10 Pikmin were waiting. Once the Onion outside, it burst to life. It flew around and began to stand on three legs. Soon two colors began to shimmer around the Onion: white and purple.

"You saved our Onion!" the 10 Pikmin exclaimed. Keith and Alex were glad that they could help, and saw that the sun was beginning to set. Alex told the Pikmin to get inside the Onion, and the two humans ran back to the ship. The Koppaites had returned when they got back. They dismissed the remaining 170 Pikmin back into their Onions. After that, Alph asked if they found anything interesting today. Besides fruit, they hadn't found anything of worth, besides the white and purple Pikmin Onion that Keith and Alex had found.

Keith turned Alex into a Pikmin, because he said he wanted to sleep in the Onion again, and Keith was just about to turn himself into a Pikmin, when Alph came up to him.

"Hey, Keith. Do you think I could have your broken device?" Alph asked.

"Why would you want that?"

"I think I might be able to track the other parts of your device with it."

"Um... okay then. Here you go." Keith gave Alph his broken device.

"Do you think you could sleep in the Drake tonight? I want to show you if the tracking system works tomorrow." Keith thought about this for a moment, then said,

"Okay. I'm sure the Pikmin won't mind." Keith and the five Captains entered the ship, and they lifted off. Keith was looking out the window, and he saw three Onion lift off with the ship; Flare's Onion, Flame's Onion, and the purple and white Onion. As Keith watched, he saw the white and purple Onion seem to combine with Flame's Onion, making it grow larger and more colorful. Keith was so shocked when he saw this, that he ran over to Alph, Brittany, and Charlie (who were drinking juice) and told them what he saw.

"We know that the Onion does that," Brittany said, "it's how the Onion is able to gain all its colors."

"Here, do you want some fruit juice?" Alph handed Keith a container holding the odd liquid that he saw 5 days ago. He opened it and drank its contents. It was very sweet, and Keith felt much better after not having eaten any food for the past 10 days.

"Thanks," Keith said, handing them back the container, "I'm going to sleep now." Keith walked back to where the extra room was, and he plopped down onto the bed. Keith thought about the Pikmin, and of the other parts. Knowing that there was still hope for Keith to return home, he felt surprisingly calm. He no longer had to fear of being stranded in this universe.

For the first time in the last week, Keith fell into a nice, dreamless sleep.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, Muscles, or Toxic. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though, and the other Pikmin from Flare's Onion.

**Some Credit Goes to: **kingalex1234, as he had the idea of having the Pikmin have more interaction, and also the idea of including his characters, Muscles (formerly known as Wieghter) and Toxic into this chapter. As I said in the disclaimer, I do not own Muscles and Toxic, and they are characters owned by kingalex1234.

**Note from Author**: It's another wild goose chase for missing parts! Did you think that the story was over because his device was broken. NO! I simply did it so that Keith will have to search for parts now. I'm still debating as to how many parts Keith needs to collect. Anyways, this chapter was kind of just a filler so it can set the stage for the next chapters to come.

Anyways, as I said in previous chapters, I am still completely open to input and ideas, and I will gladly use someone's idea if I think its good, and I will give credit too. Thank you for reading this chapter, and I will also appreciate any feedback and criticism, positive or negative!


	15. Day 11

**Day 11 – First of Four**

Keith woke up early, and he felt revitalized. The ship hadn't landed yet, so he got up and went to the Control Room, where Alph, Brittany, Charlie, and Olimar were already up.

"Morning." Keith said to them, and they replied with the same greeting.

"Keith," Alph said, "I managed to use your broken device to track down the other parts of your device. There are four other parts. Look at the map here." Keith took a look at the digital map at the front of the Control Room. There was a four glowing dots on different parts of the map. "Each dot is a signal being emitted by the broken parts of your device. There's one in the Garden of Hope, one in the Distant Tundra, one at the Twilight River and one at the Formidable Oak." Keith recognized two of those places: the Garden of Hope and the Distant Tundra. But he didn't know what the Twilight River and the Formidable Oak was.

"What are those two places? The Twilight River and the Formidable Oak?" Keith asked.

"The Twilight River is where we discovered the winged Pikmin. Quite a help it was, finding them." Charlie said.

"And what about the Formidable Oak?" Keith inquired. The Captains looked uneasily at each other.

"Er... that place is where we first found the Wraith. We'd rather not go there _just_ yet. That place gives us nightmares." Brittany said.

"Okay then... we'll go there last." Keith said, "Right now, why don't we land in the Garden of Hope again. Maybe we'll be more lucky then we were yesterday."

The Captains set up the landing sequence to land in the Garden of Hope. By the time they landed, Louie had woken up, and complained that he was hungry,

"Instant Space Noodles is getting boring. Can't I just save just a few bulborbs or wollywogs for cooking?" he complained.

"Oh shut up! We need their corpses for Pikmin reproduction." Brittany scolded. Those two Captains continued to argue with each other, so Keith left them alone and went outside. Alex was already out, so Keith turned him back into a human, and told him about the other 4 parts. After that, the five Captains exited the ship, and they called out a hundred Pikmin from each Onion, resulting in 200 Pikmin, with 35 reds, 35 yellows, 35 blues, 35 winged, 20 whites, 20 purples, and 20 rocks. They decided to travel in one group for now, with Alph leading the way toward the signal, and they headed north. Keith stayed somewhat in the back of the group, so he could talk with the Pikmin. Alex did the same, and was talking with Muscles and Toxic, something about "how did your Onion crash in that cave?" Keith wasn't really listening to Alex's conversation, and was talking with Flare instead.

"Why don't you try combining your Onion with Flame's Onion?" Keith asked Flare.

"That wouldn't work," Flare said, "because we both already have the same colors. We can only expand the Onion if we lack the color of the Onion we're expanding with. Both ours and Flame's Onion have the same colors, so we wouldn't be able to expand."

"Oh," Keith simply replied. It disappointed him a little that the two Onions couldn't combine. It would have been a great way for the Pikmin of both Onions to interact with each other. _Maybe there is a way, but they just haven't found it yet_, Keith thought.

"Guys! Come over here!" Alph said. The six other leaders went up to Alph, who was looking at his KopPad. "The signal is in there!" Alph pointed to a large, hollowed-out tree trunk that wasn't too far away in front of them. The entrance looked haunting, and so did the rest of the tree trunk.

"That's where we fought the Armored Mawdad!" Brittany exclaimed.

"Yes, but you guys already defeated that monster. I haven't fought it with you guys, but based on what you guys said, he sounded a little tough. Though, nothing is as tough as me!" Charlie said, puffing out his chest.

"Riiight... um, anyways, I think it's safe. Like you said Charlie, we had already defeated it, so it should be alright if we go in there for just a little bit." Alph said.

_Knowing my luck, Alph probably jinxed that up,_ Keith thought to himself, _I wonder what the Armored Mawdad is. Hope I don't have to find out the hard way_... The seven leaders and their squad of 200 entered the tree trunk. It was very spacious inside, and there were a few mushrooms growing on some of the sides.

"Split up! The faster we find the part, the faster we can get out of here." Brittany said. The seven leaders split up, and they allowed the Pikmin to split up too, and search different parts of the trunk. They searched for a few minutes, but they couldn't find much. They did find some weird glowing rocks hidden under the mushrooms that Keith couldn't recognize, but other than that, no part. Keith came up to Alph at some point and asked,

"Can't you accurately find out where the part is?" Alph sighed and said,

"The KopPad only shows approximate location. It can't pinpoint exactly where we'll find it. We'll just have to keep searching." Keith disappointingly resumed his search. Just to cheer himself up, he cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled,

"Hello!" _Hello! Hello, hello..._ The echo bounced off the walls over and over again. All the Pikmin and the other leaders nervously looked at Keith when he did this.

"Keith!" Alex said to him, "What are you doing?"

"I wanted to see if this place has an echo. Besides, I'm-" Keith was cut off, however, when they heard a loud roar that didn't sound too far away.

"Uh... w-what was that?" Keith said. The seven leaders ran back to the entrance of the tree trunk, and called back the 200 Pikmin. On the other side of the trunk, a large caterpillar-looking bug crawled inside of the hollow. It had large pincers and was covered with a thick layer of rock, and under that, had an extra layer of glass covering.

"That looks like the Armored Mawdad, except it looks stronger! The one we fought only had glass covering its body, but this one has solid rock _and_ glass for armor!" Alph said. The Mawdad made a sort of growl.

"It's asking us 'What are you doing in my home?'" Alex translated. Keith forgot that Alex can understand the creatures of the planet. "We just came to find something that we lost. It's a small, black part. Do you have it?" Alex asked the Mawdad. The Mawdad growled again. "We promise to leave you alone if you give it to us... Please, just give us the part!... Do we have to do this the hard way?" The Mawdad roared when Alex said that last part.

"Damn! He doesn't want to cooperate! We'll have to defeat it!" Alex shouted. The Mawdad charged at them, and the Captains and the 200 Pikmin rolled out of the way... all of them except Keith. Keith froze to the spot when he saw the Mawdad charge at him, and he wasn't able to roll out of the way fast enough. The giant thing trapped Keith in its pincers and roared right in front of Keith. Panicking, Keith ran to the side and tried to jump over its pincers. Luckily, the pincers were just low enough for Keith to jump over, and when he did, he ran to where the six other leaders and the Pikmin were waiting.

"What do we do!?" Keith shouted at them.

"That Mawdad has the part! It doesn't want to give it up, so we'll have to find a way to defeat it! I don't think the rock Pikmin alone will be able to break its rock armor." Alex said.

"Look out! It's coming back!" Alph shouted. This time, Keith was able to roll out of the way with the other leaders and the Pikmin. When Keith looked back at the Mawdad, it had trapped 15 Pikmin, and among them Electra, Hep, and Rok.

"Hey! Help!" they shouted. Keith was devastated, so he ran toward them and leaped inside the pincers.

"Keith! What are you doing!? Get out of there!" one of the leaders yelled, but Keith couldn't tell who.

"I want to save them!" Keith said. He didn't want three of Keith's close Pikmin friends to die on his watch. "Everybody! Get as far away from this thing's mouth as possible!" Keith shouted to the trapped Pikmin. They did as told, and Keith stood in front of them protectively. "Let us go!" Keith shouted to the Mawdad. "We just wanted the part!" The Mawdad only roared in retaliation. Not knowing what else to do, Keith picked up one of the glowing rocks that was next to him, and threw it right at the layer of rock covering the Mawdad's head. To his surprise, the glowing rock exploded once it made contact with the Mawdad's head. The monster roared and reared backwards, opening its pincers in the process.

"Run!" the Pikmin yelled, as they ran out of the opening through the Mawdad's pincers. Keith ran out with them, and rushed back to where the leaders were standing.

"Did you see that!? The rock exploded!" Keith yelled.

"That's a bomb rock!" Olimar said. "As the name suggests, they're exploding rocks. We might be able to use them to break this Mawdad's rock armor!"

Quickly, the seven leaders had the Pikmin gather as many bomb rocks as they could. They only gathered 7, when the Mawdad charged at them again, faster than ever. This time, all the Pikmin and the leaders were able to roll out of the way, then they pelted the Mawdad with bomb rocks. Keith even picked up some of the bomb rocks and threw it at the Mawdad, and the other Captains followed suit. They were able to destroy the outer layer of rock on the Mawdad's head and some of its middle body, revealing the protective layer of glass on the Mawdad's body.

"Now! Throw the rock Pikmin!" The leaders began to throw rock Pikmin at the glass layer covering the Mawdad's head, but because they only had 20 rock Pikmin with them, they were only able to make few cracks in the glass armor. The Mawdad charged at them again, they rolled out of the way, and they threw rock Pikmin at the glass armor. This pattern went on several times, before they were finally able to break the glass armor covering the Mawdad's head.

"Swarm it!" one of the leaders shouted. The Pikmin rushed over to the Mawdad's head, and pelted it. The Mawdad soon shook off the Pikmin.

"That took out a _lot_ if its health! It's almost down!" Alex yelled. The Mawdad charged at them again, but they rolled out of the way again, and swarmed its head a second time. This killed it, and the Mawdad made one final roar, before spitting out a large magenta-colored fruit, which split in half when it fell on the floor.

"A pomegranate!" Keith yelled as he ran over to the fruit. The others followed him.

"What a large fruit!" Brittany exclaimed, "And what did you call this Keith? A pomegranate?"

"Yeah! The seeds are the best part," Keith took out of the seeds, "You see that red stuff covering the seed? That stuff is _really _juicy!" Keith said, while he began to eat the covering off the seed, getting a lot of pomegranate juice splashed on his clothing.

"It's looks like your bleeding," Alex noticed.

"Way to state the obvious," Keith said sarcastically, "I'll get this washed later. But where's my device part?" the leaders looked around a bit, and found the part lying next to the pomegranate. Keith picked it up (after thoroughly drying off the saliva on the part) and stored it in his satchel. "That's two parts down, three more parts to go." Keith stated.

"And who's stating the obvious _now_?" Alex said.

"Oh, shut up. Let's just get the fruit back." Keith retaliated. They had all the Pikmin carry the fruit back. Olimar was talking about the Mawdad as they walked back,

"A brand new creature! I'll have to write notes about it when we get back to the ship. Perhaps I'll call it the "Reinforced Mawdad." Olimar stated. The name sounded fitting to Keith.

When they got back to the ship, the fruit was beamed into the ship. It was almost the end of the day, so Keith quickly went to the nearest body of water, washed up, and returned to the ship. The Pikmin were already back in the Onions. Keith turned Alex into a Pikmin (he really seemed to be enjoying staying in the Onion), and he went inside Flame's Onion.

"Are you staying in the Onion, Keith?" Alph asked.

"Yeah, I am." Keith replied

"Okay. Where do you want to land tomorrow?"

"Um... land where you want, it doesn't matter." Keith said. The Captains went back into the ship, and Keith turned himself back into a Pikmin, and went inside Flare's Onion. He went over to his sleeping spot, and laid down. He was satisfied that the part wasn't _too_ hard. If Keith was able to obtain a part a day, then he'd be back home in no time. Yawning (Pikmin yawn a different way than humans do, but it's more or less the same concept), Keith drifted off to sleep with dreams of the Pikmin.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, Muscles, or Toxic. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though, and the other Pikmin from Flare's Onion.

**Note from Author**: Another chapter finished. The rest of the bosses are probably going to be like this, where they are going to have some kind of change to them. They might be small, like having rock armor for the new Mawdad, which I named the "Reinforced Mawdad," or they might have a significant change. You'll see how it plays out. I'm still somewhat open to ideas, but not as much as before, as I now have the layout of the rest of the story planned already. Of course, if any of you have any cool ideas that you want to see in the story, I'll be glad to hear it! Thank you for reading this chapter, and I will also appreciate any feedback and criticism, positive or negative!


	16. Day 12

**Day 12: Standing Ovation**

_What the heck...?_

When Keith woke up, he immediately saw Poy. He was sitting on top of Keith's chest.

The next thing that Keith noticed, was that he wasn't in his sleeping spot anymore. He was in a completely different room, but he was, as far as Keith could tell, still in the Onion, as the walls were still colorful. The room was about the size of a medium-sized room, and it looked kind of like the Control Room in the S.S. Drake. There was a control panel at the front of the room (which was behind Keith), and a large windshield looking thing on the top of the control panel. Keith saw his satchel on one side of the room.

"Poy," Keith said, "what the hell are you doing on top of me. And where the heck are we anyways?"

Poy simply gave Keith his usual devious smile, and said, "Oh, well, we're in the Control Room of the Onion. It's a secret room; only me, Flare, Electra, Aqua, Hep, Ping, and Rok know about this room. And now you know about this room too. As for why we're here, I told you that I'd get you back, and I thought this would be the perfect place to do it. The door and walls are too thick for sound to travel through. Even better, the door can be locked, so nobody will be able to help you."

_Um... what the hell does he mean by that? Is he saying that...? _Keith assumed that this was Poy's plan: in the past, Keith was always saved by Electra whenever Poy picked on him. To prevent this, Poy decided to pick this secluded room so nobody would be able to help Keith. _But what did Poy mean when he says that the door and walls are too thick for sound to travel through? _Keith assumed that what Poy meant was that Keith might try to yell for help, but nobody would be able to hear him. The thought made Keith shudder.

"Um... Poy?" Keith said tentatively, "uh... don't you think that this is a bit much? I said I'm sorry already, and uh..." Keith voice diminished here. He honestly didn't know what else to say.

"I don't think you've noticed yet Keith, but I'm not that kind of Pikmin." Poy said, "I _am_ going to get you back, and I've already got a great plan for it." Poy took a shiny red berry that was next to him. "You see this berry? I want you to eat it. The entire berry."

Keith slowly took the berry, and asked, "What is it?"

"You'll find out soon enough." Poy said, crossing his arms. He was still sitting on Keith's chest.

"What if I don't want to eat it? Or find out what it does?" Keith said, raising his voice.

"Well, that's fine with me. Unless you haven't noticed, I woke you up really early, so I'll give you plenty of time before I decide to shove the berry down your throat myself."

"Is that a threat?"

"What do you think Keith?" Poy asked maliciously. Keith sighed. _What the hell is wrong with this Pikmin? _he thought.

"Fine. You win. I'll eat the berry." Keith finally said after a few minutes. Keith slowly raised the berry to his mouth, and ate the berry. (Don't ask how he ate without a mouth). As Keith chewed and swallowed the berry, he let the juices from the berry wash over his mouth. Big mistake. He felt a strong sensation soon wash over his mouth. The berry was extremely...

"SPICY!" Keith tried to get up, but Poy grabbed his arms and held him down.

"DAMN IT, LET ME GO, POY!" Keith flailed around as much as he could, but Poy held firm. He seemed to be very much enjoying Keith's reaction to the berry.

Keith, on the other hand, was feeling anything but that. When it comes to spiciness, Keith was the most sensitive person in the world about it. Anything that was even a little spicy, like pepperoni, Keith would consider "too spicy" and he would chug down an entire glass of water. It was even worse now, as the pain of having the spiciness in his mouth was excruciating. The spiciness was a million times more spicy than wasabi. Unlike wasabi, however, where the spiciness would go away after a few seconds, the spiciness from this berry seemed to last forever.

Keith couldn't take it, after a few minutes of surviving the torment, Keith mustered up all his energy and shoved Poy off his chest. The berry somehow made him stronger, despite also giving him excruciating pain. Keith ran around the room, but he couldn't find the exit.

"POY! WHERE'S THE EFFING EXIT!?" Keith screamed, getting the spice caught in his throat, giving him even more pain than ever before. Keith fell to the ground, holding his neck. "I'm... choking..." Keith weakly said. To his surprise, Poy actually reacted to this.

"Wait, you're _choking_?" Poy asked. Keith weakly nodded his head. His vision was getting blurry. "Oh no..." Poy said nervously, "You might die... I need to get the others... but what will they say when they find out...?" Keith heard him talking some more, but it was just a dim blur. Eventually, Keith fainted.

* * *

"Keith...! Wake up...!" Keith had trouble opening his eyes.

"No..." Keith simply said, "Go... away!" Keith swung at empty air. When he noticed that his fist didn't connect with a certain white Pikmin, he opened his eyes. He saw Flare, Electra, Aqua, Hep, Ping, and Rok crowded around him. "Where's... Poy?" Keith asked, his voice parched.

"Um... he's over there," Aqua said. He indicated toward Poy, who was standing somewhat isolated from the group. He looked kind of guilty. "but why would you want to see Poy?"

Keith wanted to see Poy to get all his anger off his chest. In that moment, an intense amount of rage built up inside Keith. He didn't know this at the time, but what Keith was experiencing was a small side effect of the Form Changer. This side effect allows the user to periodically experience natural instincts from the form they are currently taking on. Since Keith was in the form of a [Red Pikmin], Keith would occasionally experience unintentional anger, as red Pikmin are naturally angry in a battle.

This was one of those moments where the instincts of a red Pikmin were beginning to kick in. And in a moment, Keith exploded. He rushed over to where Poy was, tackled him, and threw punches at him.

"DAMN IT POY! WHY THE HELL DID YOU _DO_ THAT TO ME!?" Eventually, Poy began to fight back, and they rolled around, both trying to gain the upper hand.

"Both of you, stop it!" the other Pikmin soon yelled, and struggled to separate Keith from Poy. Keith was eventually separated from Poy, and were holding onto Keith.

"Wow. You're attitude really turned into a red Pikmin there, Keith." Flare said.

"He deserved it." Keith grumbled.

"Don't be that hard on him," Hep said, "he didn't know that-"

"_Didn't know!?_ What do you mean he 'didn't know!?'" Keith yelled, "I nearly died and he knew it! He even said before I fainted, 'You might die,' and stuff like that. And you're telling me that he 'didn't know' that this could happen!? What the hell was that berry anyways!" Keith voice had risen to its absolute highest at this point. The other Pikmin were staring at him with complete and utter shock. Keith realized how harsh he had probably sounded. He calmed down, and walked away from the Pikmin. "*sigh* I'm sorry. This is the third time I got really angry at you guys. I probably shouldn't have acted that way." Keith said. It was a weak apology, but was still an apology nonetheless. Electra spoke up,

"That's okay. At least you said sorry! Poy here on the other hand," she cast a glare at Poy, who only returned the glare back at her, "never apologizes."

"What?" Poy said, "It's not like I have to say sorry every time I-"

"That was a hint Poy!" Electra retaliated.

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, you do. Now go!" she said. Poy slowly walked over to Keith. It took a few awkward moments, but eventually, he said,

"I'm... sorry." Keith smiled.

"Is that the first time you've apologized to anybody?" Silence. "I'll take that as a 'yes.' Now I can always remember that I was the very first person that you've ever apologized to." Keith said, with a hint of taunting in his voice. Poy simply stared at him in the eyes angrily, then walked away. "Now, can someone please tell me what that berry was?"

It was Flare who explained. Apparently, it was called an ultra-spicy berry. _What a fitting name, _Keith thought when he was told this. It was first fully utilized by Captain Olimar and Louie, who used the juice of the berry and sprayed it on the Pikmin's stem to make them stronger. Also, the berries are dangerous to eat raw to the Pikmin, as it has a chance of killing the Pikmin when eaten. This was found out when, before Captain Olimar crashed on the planet, a blue Pikmin thought that eating the berry would turn him into a red Pikmin. He ate it, and realizing that it was spicy, tried drinking water, choked on both the spice and the water, and died.

_ That was a bit of a gruesome story._ Keith thought, _I'm probably very lucky that I hadn't went into the same fate. So far, that was probably the third near-death experience I've had since I've crashed on this planet. And it was probably the millionth near-death experience I've had since my amnesia... Why is life so cruel to me?_

"Um, thanks for the explanation, I guess..." Keith said. That last story of the blue Pikmin still unsettled him. The shortness of the story scared him too. He ate a berry, and he died. The end. Keith decided to change the topic. "So... what is this room? Poy here," Keith looked at Poy, who glared back, "revealed to me that it was a secret room. He called it the... Control Room? What does it do?" he asked. The Pikmin looked slightly unsettled, and sent a few accusing looks at Poy. Only Rok seemed not to care about the fact that this "secret room" was revealed to Keith

"I guess we might as well tell you about the room," Rok said, "Poy already showed you it anyways, and we probably would have told you sooner or later, 'cause you're a Captain and all..." he finished. Flare then began to explain the room,

"I guess Rok's right." Flare said, "This room can control the Onion. We don't usually use this room very much. The Onion naturally controls itself, but in the case of an emergency, we use this room to manually control the Onion."

"And... the reason for it being secret...?" Keith asked.

"Well, just in case another Pikmin tries messing with the controls, we might crash." Flare explained.

"If that's the case, how do you possibly trust Poy, of all the white Pikmin, to know about this room?"

"Hey! I can be serious when I need to!" Poy retaliated.

"Really? I find that hard to believe." Keith said.

"Um... you might find this surprising Keith, but he's actually right. Poy is the only white Pikmin who can be serious in a serious situation, and can organize the white Pikmin because of that." Electra said.

"See!" Poy said with a satisfied smile at Keith. Keith simply rolled his eyes.

"Okay... anyways, do you mind if I look at the control panel?" Keith asked.

"Uh, sure. But try not to touch anything." Flare warned. Keith went up to the control panel, and looked at it. There were a ton of options laid out on the panel. Most of them seemed self-explanatory to Keith. One option allowed the Onion to separate back into individual colors. Another allowed a Pikmin to manually drive the Onion. But there was one option that caught Keith's eye. It was labeled "Override."

"Um... what does this button here do? The one saying, 'Override.'" Keith pointed at the button.

"That button allows the Onion to combine with other Onions of the same color." Flare explained.

"I thought you said that wasn't possible."

"Well, it is possible, but I didn't mention it because using Override is dangerous. If something goes wrong with the procedure, both of the Onions split back into individual colors, and they'll crash. Like, let's say a red, blue, and yellow Onion tried to combine with another Onion of those same colors. We would have to use Override for that. If something goes wrong during the process of combining, however, then both Onions will split back into individual colors. The red, blue, and yellow Onion would split into a red Onion, a blue Onion, and a yellow Onion, and the same would go with the other Onion. Basically, those two Onions that tried to combine into one Onion ended up with six Onions instead. Not only that, but both Onions would then malfunction, and crash. That's why we don't really like to use that option, because there's that chance that something may go wrong." Flare explained. It was a lot to grasp at first for Keith, but he eventually got it.

"Why don't we try it tonight, with Flame's Onion?" Keith suggested. The Pikmin looked shocked.

"Keith," Electra said, "we literally just told you that option was dangerous, and you _still_ want to go for it?"

"I mean, yeah. If something goes wrong, me and the other Captains could always try to find you guys all over again." Keith said, if a bit sheepishly, "Besides, if for some reason you guys don't like the company of Flare's Pikmin, you could always use this option," Keith pointed to the option that allowed the Onion to separate back into individual colors.

"I'm not sure..." Flare said. If he was going to finish that statement, he didn't have time for it, as just then, Keith saw from the windshield that they had landed.

"I should get out now... um, where's the exit?" Keith asked. They showed him out of a door hidden in the wall. Picking up his satchel, Keith left the room and walked back into the large center room of the Onion, and he exited out of the Onion.

They had landed in a place that Keith didn't recognize. There was a light drizzle, and he could hear a river flowing by all around him. He turned himself back into a human, just as Alex and the other Captains came out. Charlie was complaining about the place they had landed in, something about "losing my rubber ducky in that blasted river!"

_Charlie has a rubber ducky? He looks like a guy straight out of the army! What would he want with a children's toy? _Keith thought. He decided not to question this further, mainly because he didn't think he wanted to find out. He turned Alex back into a human, and they called out the same Pikmin they had called out yesterday, resulting in 200 Pikmin.

"The signal looks like it's coming from the top of that tree stump." Alph said as he looked at his KopPad. It was a miracle that the KopPad wasn't malfunctioning in the rain. The Emergency Devices Keith had were waterproof, but Keith wished that they had been shatterproof too.

"That's another place where we fought a large enemy. The Scornet Maestro. Alex made that fight a _lot _easier, but we still lost Pikmin to it..." Brittany said, sighing.

"So... what is this place?" Keith asked.

"The Twilight River." Alex responded. Keith was going to ask how he knew this, but he refrained. If Alex had helped the five Captains before, then surely he should remember this place as somewhere he explored, right? Or was there another reason that Alex seemed to know this place? Keith shook off the questions; they didn't seem too important, as long as he knew what the place was called.

"Well, let's go!" Keith said. With Alph leading the way once again, they set off toward the large tree stump to the south. Along the way, Keith told Alex about the Override option, and how the Onion is controlled with the Control Room.

"The Pikmin in Flare's Onion keep the room a secret?" Alex asked. Keith nodded his head. "That's weird. Most of the Pikmin in Flame's Onion know about that room. They even told me about the room the second night I stayed in the Onion." Alex said. Keith also began to wonder why Flare and the others would keep the room a secret, whereas most of the Pikmin in Flame's Onion knew about the room. He decided to ask Flare about this later.

"Anyways, do you think you could convince Flame to do this too?" Keith asked.

"I'm not sure. I'll ask, but based on what you said, he might not be so sure." Alex replied.

They had made it to the entrance to the tree stump. It was a winding path around the stump. The drizzle had gone by then, and the sun was now shining in the sky, its glow reflecting on the dewy leaves and grass around them. They set up on the path. When they made it to the top of the stump, Keith saw something familiar right in the middle of the stump.

"Another part!" Keith yelled. He dashed off toward, not thinking about how it was strange that the part was so conveniently located right in the middle of the stump.

"Keith, wait!" Alex yelled, but it was too late. Keith was just about to pick up the part, when he was lifted off of the ground all of a sudden.

"Hey! What the-!" Creatures about the size of the Pikmin had picked Keith off of the ground. They had the colors yellow and blue, and they had a small stinger right in front of their eyes.

"Scornets!" the Pikmin yelled, pointing at the flyers. The winged Pikmin especially seemed ready to take them on, as they were also flying threateningly in front of the scornets. Then a large scornet appeared.

"The Scornet Maestro!" Brittany yelled.

"But... it looks different. Where's its harp?" Alph said.

_Harp? _Keith wondered. He didn't see a harp with the Maestro, but it was holding a different instrument. Where its mouth was, there were four strings attached, not going up and down, but the strings were going forwards and backwards. The Maestro was also holding a sort of stick in one hand. _Oh! This Maestro thing is holding a violin!_ Keith recognized it immediately. A violin only had four strings, and you would play it using a bow. The violin was probably what the Maestro was holding in its mouth.

"Guys, calm down! I'll see if I can try to negotiate with the Maestro." Alex said. He began to speak to the Maestro, while Keith hung helplessly in the air. He was a bit embarrassed that he had gotten himself into this situation, being held ransom by a bunch of small creatures. He heard Alex talking with the Maestro, but he wasn't really paying attention to what he was saying. Keith's attention was focused on the Maestro. Somehow, it communicated by playing on its violin. Every time it played, it sounded so melodic to Keith. Without realizing it, Keith found himself humming to whatever the Maestro played. Somehow, this caught the Maestro's attention, and it turned to Keith. It played a few notes.

"Keith! She's asking why you were humming with her instrument!" Alex said. _It's asking me? _Keith thought,_ Well, I guess I might as well answer..._

"I really like music. I play a lot of instruments, the violin included." Keith said. This was true. Out of all the memories Keith had lost from his amnesia, his knowledge of music was probably the least affected. He was an extremely talented musician, and he played a numerous amount of instruments. This included the piano, most string instruments, and a few woodwind instruments. The Maestro played a few rapid notes on its violin.

"She... seems to be happy!" Alex said, "She says that she'll give us the part... if you play a song for her that she likes. She also says that she has an extra violin." he translated.

"Really?" Keith said, "O-okay! I'll play a song!" When he said this, the scornets dropped Keith (quite harshly). He got up, and the scornets delivered a violin and a playing bow to him. He took the instrument, then thought about what he should play. It was deathly quiet. The Pikmin, the leaders, the scornets, and the Maestro were all looking at him. It made Keith insanely nervous, as standing in front of a crowd was one of his worst fears. Eventually, he picked a song. It was quite upbeat.

Keith played the first few notes. They rang out, its melody echoing across the stump. He played for a few seconds, when he heard a... beating to his right. Keith glanced over and saw Alex beating a makeshift drum, in beat with the melody.

Now, two voices were echoing across the stump, a melody and a beat. They played for a few measures, when the Pikmin began to do something Keith found astonishing. They began to sing and dance.

Reds, blues, yellows, and many multiple colors combined, and formed a rainbow of singing and dancing. The singing Pikmin were in perfect harmony with the melody, creating chords in tune with the music, and the dancers were dancing so well to the beat of the music, that they began to even perform stunts that matched the mood of the tone.

A final voice was added. The Maestro joined in, playing a perfect accompaniment to Keith's melody. The winged Pikmin even began to dance with the scornets.

In the midst of it all, Keith had never before felt so... _happy_ to be playing music. Everything seemed so united, and everyone else was so full of spirit. Even everything else seemed to have their place; plants swaying in tune with the wind, the flowing water at the base of the trunk adding percussion to the mix. Everything was so in harmony, it almost felt like a dream. A place that had become so surreal that everyone lived without conflict. And it was this happy peace that gave Keith an overwhelming joy, and probably gave the others as well.

And just as quickly, the song ended. The last note was held out, diminished, and gently concluded. Everything was silent for a moment. Then, the Pikmin cheered the largest cheer Keith had ever heard them do. Keith was relieved that he done so well, but a tiny part of him was kind of... sad. Everything was so united in those few minutes of harmony, that Keith almost wished that it had never ended.

Keith turned around, and saw the Captains were clapping. Keith smiled, and returned the violin to the Maestro. It played a rapid amount of notes in its violin.

"She says that the performance was outstanding!" Alex translated. "She said that she's never heard 'Such a wonderful harmony with the world, all connected by music!' And... she says she'll give us the part, along with some fruit as reward!" he concluded. The scornets gave Keith another part, while another group of scornets delivered a _ton_ of fruit. It took all 200 Pikmin to deliver all the fruit back to the ship. By then, the Scornet Maestro and its scornets flew off, and the leaders contently walked back to the ship. Olimar was, once again, talking about the Maestro that they encountered.

"According to your report, Charlie," Olimar said, "The Maestro that you fought had a harp instead of a violin in its mouth?"

"That's right," Charlie said.

"Then the Maestro we saw today must have been another creature entirely! I think I'll call it... the Musical Maestra." Olimar said contently. _Once again, another fitting name,_ Keith thought, _Olimar must love his wildlife. I was never really a big fan of studying animals..._

When they got back, it was already 6:00 P.M., which surprised Keith. The day felt surprisingly short. They dismissed the Pikmin back into the Onions, and Keith asked Alex,

"Did you get Flame to agree to the Override?"

"It took a while, and some persuading, but I think I persuaded him to go for it. He says that we'll start right after we launch." Alex said.

"Okay." Keith turned them both into Pikmin, and they entered their respective Onions. Keith gathered Flare, Electra, Aqua, Hep, Poy, Rok, and Ping, and they went into the Control Room.

"We're doing the Override." Keith announced.

"What!?" the Pikmin yelled, astonished.

"W-why are we doing that?" Flare asked.

"Well, with some help, Flame was also convinced to also do the Override. We'll start after launch..." Keith said just as the Onion lurched. And soon, the Onion had launched, "...which is now."

* * *

The others were very nervous to go ahead with the procedure. Keith, on the other hand, was very excited. They were huddled in front of the Control Panel. Hep, Ping, and Electra wasn't here though; they were spreading the news to the other Pikmin in the Onion that they were going to initiate Override with Flame's Onion. Flare pressed the button labeled "Override." A holographic screen appeared in front of the windshield (_Wow. The Onion has quite a bit of technology._), which said,

_Override Request Sent.  
__Awaiting Confirmation..._

Keith's excitement must have shown through, as Poy said,

"You seem pretty happy plotting our demise."

"What are you talking about?" Keith said, "If this is successful, this Onion will combine with the other Onion!"

"Yeah, but the procedure could also fail," Poy said, "and if it does, I'm hunting you down, Keith."

"Oh please. Stop being so negative." Keith said. Keith noticed that Poy seemed to act so differently from the other Pikmin. He was sort of a one-of-a-kind Pikmin. Keith hasn't seen any of the other white Pikmin act as mischievous as Poy. In fact, Keith hasn't seen a _single_ other Pikmin with a personality quite like that of Poy's. He wondered why Poy was like this. Maybe he naturally enjoyed being a jerk? _Specifically, to me... _Keith thought bitterly. Keith also began to wonder if there were other "one-of-a-kind" Pikmin. Maybe Alex would know of some?

Just then, the holographic screen's message changed,

_Override Confirmation Received: Accepted.  
__Initiating Override Procedure..._

"They accepted! It's starting!" Keith yelled excitedly. The Onion lurched, and went toward Flame's Onion. Keith could see all of it through the windshield. The Onion that Keith was in went under Flame's Onion. Then suddenly, Keith felt the Onion lurch upwards. It was trying to integrate with Flame's Onion!

_Override Procedure has begun.  
__Status of Procedure is as shown:  
__Integrating Colors... Successful; 1/7 steps completed.  
__Integrating Volume... Successful; 2/7 Steps completed._

Those first two steps took several tense minutes. With each new step, the Pikmin hoped that a successful report would come on. If at least one step reported as a failure...

_Integrating Seeding... Successful; 5/7 steps completed.  
__Integrating Mechanisms... Successful; 6/7 steps completed._

_ C'mon, we're so close! Don't fail now!_ Keith begged silently.

_Integrating Pikmin..._

Right after this step appeared, the last crucial step, something strange happened. Everything seemed to... stop. The Pikmin suddenly stopped moving. Even Keith couldn't move himself... and yet, the holographic screen was moving.

_What's happening?_ Keith thought nervously. Did the procedure really fail on this final, crucial step?

And then, something even weirder happened. Everything began to distort, the rooms, the Control Panel, the colors, the Pikmin... everything! Keith thought that he was losing his mind or something. Had he fainted for a second time today, and he was now just seeing things? Has the procedure failed, and the this is what it looked like to see the Onion splitting apart?

Then... everything was normal again. The rooms had returned back into their original states. The colors were normal again. But one thing was out of place. There were more Pikmin in the room than there was when they first began the procedure. When they had started, it was Keith, Flare, Aqua (male), Poy, and Rok in the room. Now, Keith saw Alex, Flame, Daisy, Muscles, and Rocky were in the room too. Keith cast a glance at the screen in front of the windshield.

_Integration Complete.  
__Override Successful._

* * *

"I can't believe it worked!" Alex said. After the procedure, the Pikmin in the Control Room gathered their senses, and walked back into the large center room of the Onion. To Keith's astonishment, the Onion was now twice the size it was before the procedure. It was _way_ too big for Keith's standards, although it made sense, as the Onion now had to house hundreds of Pikmin now.

The leaders of Flare and Flame's Onions met up, and both groups looked relieved that the procedure had gone as planned.

"Hey Keith," Poy called Keith over, "Who's that red Pikmin over there?"

"You met him before." Keith said, "He's the other human. His name's Alex. He's also a Captain, or leader."

"Really...? He's a Captain too?" _Uh-oh. Poy has that mischievous smile again. What could he be plotting this time?_

After the leaders talked for a bit, Keith excused himself from the group, saying that he was going to sleep. So much had happened, and Keith would have liked to sleep. He decided to get acquainted with everything in the morning. Before going to his sleeping spot, Keith told Alex,

"You see that white Pikmin over there?"

"Uh, yeah. What about him?" Alex asked.

"Well... his name's Poy, and he made my life in the Onion hell when he found out that I was both a Captain and a Pikmin. And guess what! He found out that you're a Captain/Pikmin too! So... good luck!" Keith said, and ran back to his sleeping spot before Alex had time to ask any questions.

Keith set up his satchel for sleep, and laid down. It was much noisier in the Onion now, but Keith didn't mind. In a way, he kind of liked the noise in the Onion. It somehow made Keith feel safer. Pretty soon, he fell asleep with dreams of Onions and music and, oddly enough, a Pikmin world where the Pikmin and the monsters worked together instead of fought.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, Muscles, or Toxic. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though, and the other Pikmin from Flare's Onion.

**Some Credit goes to: **kingalex1234, for beta-reading this chapter.

**Note from Author**: Well, this was quite a long chapter. I'm really glad that I finally got it finished! Don't really have much to say other than that. As I said in previous chapters, although I'm not as open as I was before, if any of you have any cool ideas that you want to see in the story, I'll be glad to hear it! Thank you for reading this chapter, and I will also appreciate any feedback and criticism, positive or negative!


	17. Day 13

**Day 13 – Undetected**

_H...ey! ...op...ait! ...wh...id...o!? _Weird voices seeped into Keith's dreams, and he groggily opened his eyes. He could hear the voices a little more clearly now. They were from somewhere on the other side of the Onion.

"Stop it! What... you do... us!? ...us go!" Some parts were still left out as Keith was still getting accustomed to being awake. He listened one more time to who was yelling. The voice sounded familiar...

"Why did you _do_ that!? Let our stems go!" someone said. Another voice entered,

"What's all this abou... oh my gosh! Why did you do that Poy!?" That was Electra who said that, but Keith's wasn't worried about that. He was worried about what Electra just said, that last part. She had said...

_Poy! _Keith course it was Poy who was doing something. Keith quickly got up, grabbed his satchel, and ran over a where a large group of Pikmin had crowded around something. Keith went over, but instead of making his way to the front of the crowd, like a normal person, he used the childish maneuver, the one that always worked – he raised his voice.

"Hey!" Keith yelled, "What's going on!?" The Pikmin soon realized that the one shouting was one of the Captains, and they moved aside to let Keith see. What Keith saw was a red Pikmin and a blue Pikmin who's stems were tied together. At first, this didn't seem like a big problem to Keith; until he realized that the red Pikmin was actually Alex, and the blue Pikmin was actually female Aqua. And the stems weren't tied in an ordinary knot – the stems were tied in a way that they actually looked like it formed a heart. Keith felt _extremely_ bad for them. _Where's Poy...?_ he wondered. He scanned the crowd, but he couldn't see him. He also didn't see the other leaders of Flare's Onion, but he did see Electra in the crowd. Keith went over to her. "Electra! Did Poy do this?" he asked.

Electra was in her arms-folded stance, which probably meant that she wasn't happy. "Yeah, I think so." she replied, "He's the only Pikmin that I know who knows how to tie a decent knot. Unless one of the Pikmin from Flame's Onion did it..."

"No," Keith said, "It was probably a Pikmin from our Onion, and that means it was probably Poy. I don't think it could have been a Pikmin from Flame's Onion, as both of these Pikmin are from Flame's Onion." he paused for a moment, thinking about something, and then said, "By the way, where are the other leaders of our Onion?"

"They went off to find Poy. To see if he really did it." Electra replied.

"Hey!" Alex yelled at them, "That's a lovely conversation you two seem to be having, but unless you haven't noticed, Aqua and I are still tangled up!" Keith looked back at Alex. It was true that they were still tangled, but the leaders of Flame's Onion were trying to untangle them, although not very successfully. It looked like a pretty complicated knot, and every time they did something wrong, female Aqua would cry out "Ow!" or "Stop! That hurts!" Alex had a look that Keith couldn't quite decipher, but he could tell in his eyes that he was angry. Keith and Electra tried to help them.

It took a few minutes, but they finally got the knot untangled. The crowd of Pikmin that had gathered had dispersed now, but Aqua looked like she was going to cry at that point, so Alex tried to make her feel better.

"We're... here..." Keith turned around and saw that the leaders of Flare's Onion had returned, and they had Poy with them.

"He... tried... running away... But... Ping... got him." Flare huffed out. They looked really tired. Poy on the other hand, only looked satisfied.

"Poy, why did you do... _that_? You know Alex is a Captain, and yet you still go off to prank him?" Keith said indicating towards where Alex and female Aqua were.

"Well, they just looked _so_ peaceful together, that I just wanted to strengthen their bond by tying his girlfriend's stem with his." Poy said.

"G-Girlfriend!?" Alex yelled incredulously. Keith could see the instincts of a [Red Pikmin] were beginning to kick in on Alex. "W-What do you mean _girlfriend_!?" he exclaimed.

"What?" Poy replied sarcastically, almost mockingly, "I mean, you two were sleeping really close to each other, that I just assumed that you two had a relationship." Keith could see that Alex was angry, but he saw a... different emotion in Alex. Was it... confusion? _He's probably angry at being taunted like that, but does Alex really have a relationship with female Aqua? _Keith wondered.

"Um... Alex?" female Aqua asked. This calmed Alex down a bit, and he turned toward her to listen, "What's a... girl-friend? Is it that just another way of saying I'm your friend, but I'm also a girl? Wouldn't that make Flame your boy-friend, and Daisy another one of your girl-friends?"

_The Pikmin of Flame's Onion don't know what falling in love is? _Keith wondered. The leaders of Flare's Onion looked just as surprised as Keith was to realize that. The leaders of Flame's Onion, however, were also wondering what a "girl-friend" was.

"Um..." Alex said, looking very embarrassed to having to explain this, "Well, a girlfriend... its kind of like... when two..." Alex went on, but just then the Onion landed. Keith, not being the lovey-dovey type, decided to interrupt Alex.

"Hey, Alex! The Onion just landed, so we should probably get out now!"

"Um... o-okay!" Alex replied. He looked relieved, but Keith noticed the hesitation in Alex. Did he really want to explain what a girlfriend was to Aqua? _Screw that. I'm not sticking around to hear how Alex explains the birds and the bees to the leaders of Flame's Onion._ Keith thought. They said bye to the Pikmin, and they quickly exited the Onion.

They had landed in the Distant Tundra, so Keith turned himself into Captain form so the suit would give him warmth.

"Do you want me to turn you into Captain form too?" Keith asked.

"No, just turn me into a human. I'll get an extra space vest from the Drake." Alex replied. Keith turned Alex into a human, just as the five Captains exited from the ship.

"You know, you look a lot like Olimar when you're in Captain form." Alex said to Keith, before running quickly into the Drake to get an extra space suit for himself.

"Where's Alex going?" Olimar asked.

"He went to get an extra space suit for himself." Keith replied as he took a close look at Olimar. Did he really look like him? It was a bit hard for Keith to believe that he had a big nose, large ears, and slitted eyes like Olimar, even though Keith could feel these facial features on him.

"Um... Keith, why are you staring at me like that?" Olimar asked. Keith realized that he was probably looking very odd just staring in Olimar's face like that. He snapped out of it, and hastily said,

"Oh, sorry. I was just-"

"I'm back!" Alex yelled as he exited the Drake. He was wearing a space suit that protected him from the elements.

Alph was looking at his KopPad when he said, "The next part we're looking for is located where we also fought a large enemy. Charlie, you should remember this one pretty clearly."

"The Vehemoth Phosbat..." Charlie seemed to say as he looked off into the distance, "A nasty creature, that one. All I remember is being inside that foul creature's insides. I thought I was done for! All I thought about when I was in that thing's stomach was Br-"

"We don't need your life story, Captain." Brittany interrupted. Brittany seemed to look annoyed, and Keith could tell why, based on that last statement Charlie said. "Let's just go and find this part. We'll probably get another giant fruit like we did with the last two creatures."

The seven of them agreed to this. They took out the same 200 Pikmin. It seemed like a miracle to Keith that they hadn't lost any in the past few days. When they got organized, the seven leaders and the Pikmin set off, heading south. After a bit of walking, Keith noticed that it was eerily quiet again. In the Garden of Hope and the Twilight River, there were a few monsters here and there that they fought. But here, there was nothing, just like... the Tropical Wilds. And that's when they had fought that weird shape-shifter, the thing that the others called the Plasm Wraith.

_It's okay. _Keith thought reassuringly _It's probably just the cold. No monster would come out in this weather... right?_ The seven of them turned east at some point, and after a bit more walking, they entered a cave. A single light bulb was on in the cave, illuminating only a part of the cave. Using the yellow Pikmin, they began to bring power to the other light bulbs in the cave.. After they had lit every one, the seven leaders grouped back together at the center of the cave, under a large light bulb.

"So... where's this part?" Brittany asked.

"I... I don't know." Alph said with uncertainty while looking at his KopPad. "It says that Keith's part should be in this cave, but I don't know how or where-"

"Guys, be quiet." Alex whispered. Alex told the Pikmin to be quiet too, and they also began to stop talking. It was now eerily quiet in the cave, and Keith didn't know what Alex was listening for. But soon, Keith heard it too. It was a hushed whispering. It kind of reminded Keith of a horror movie, where the main character would enter the abandoned house, and hear the whispering of the lost souls. It always made Keith's hairs stand on end watching these suspenseful moments of a movie, but experiencing it was even worse.

The whispering got louder, but they weren't human. It came from everywhere, and the voices bounced off the walls. Despite the numerous lights around them, the cave seemed to get darker to Keith. Every dark corner housed an unknown terror, and these whisperings made Keith feel hollow.

"_Leave..."_ Alex whispered.

"What was that?" Keith asked quietly.

"The voices. There are a lot of them, and they're all saying the same thing. _Leave_. I... I think they're the voices of the Phosbat and her babies."

"Sh-Should we g-go?" Alph asked. He was obviously afraid, being the second youngest in the group, the youngest being Keith. The Pikmin were also starting to get nervous, and the Pikmin leaders were trying to calm them down.

"B-But we didn't get my part yet!" Keith quickly objected.

"I don't know Keith..." Charlie said.

"Perhaps we should return here tomorrow?" Olimar suggested. Just then, the whisperings became louder.

"They're saying _Leave _again," Alex translated, "but they're sounding more urgent, as if..."

"They're giving a warning..." Brittany concluded, her eyes wide.

Just then, a light bulb went out. Alph was the first to notice. And yelled, "The light bulbs are going out!" One by one, the light bulbs began to flicker and die.

"The exit! Everybody run!" Charlie yelled. The seven of them and the Pikmin took a few steps forward.

And the last light bulb died. Keith stopped in his tracks, not knowing what to do. He heard the other Captains and the Pikmin yelling nervously. Keith had a nervous attack too, and suddenly felt claustrophobic.

Then, a single light bulb flickered back on. It was the large one hanging from the ceiling at the center of the cave, except its glow was only very dim. It was still illuminating the cave though, which made Keith feel better. He saw the other Captains and the Pikmin. Olimar blew his whistle to get everyone organized again.

"Well, that was... unexpected." Olimar said, "At least we have a light again. We should get out of this cave as soon as possible." With Olimar leading, he took a few steps towards the exit, when Alex yelled,

"Look! What's that under the light?" Keith looked in the direction that Alex had indicated. Under the light in the center of the cave, was an apple, and...

"A part!" Keith exclaimed. Once again, he ran towards the part, but quickly stopped himself. What if it was a trap? He could get himself in trouble again...

He decided to walk slowly towards the part. The Pikmin and the Captains were watching Keith nervously, acting as if Keith would die if he made the wrong move. Eventually, Keith made it to the part, picked it up, and placed it in his satchel. That was four parts. He only needed one more now.

Keith looked at the apple after putting the part away. He changed himself into human form, and slowly approached the apple. It hadn't been there before, so how did it get here in the few seconds that the lights were out. He placed his hand on the apple's surface, and he immediately knew something was wrong. This apple was too soft, too... squishy. Keith punched the apple, and something terrible happened. In the spot Keith had punched, the apple's surface seemed to shimmer, and in that split second that Keith saw the apple shimmer, he saw a faint bit of gold.

"O-Oh my God! R-Run!" Keith turned around and ran towards the Captains.

"W-What happened!?" Charlie exclaimed.

"C-C-Captain! L-Look!" Alph stuttered. Keith glanced behind him, and saw that the apple had transformed into a giant, golden blob. And it was coming after them.

"The Wraith!" Everyone panicked. The Captains and the Pikmin, and they all ran towards the exit. They soon emerged outside, but they didn't stop there. They ran all the way to the S.S. Drake. When they got back to the ship, everybody was nervous and exhausted.

"Did... did we lose it?" Olimar asked. He seemed to be the most nervous out of the all the Captains, which was unlike him. Then, Keith remembered that Olimar had had the worst experience with the Plasm Wraith.

"I... think it's gone." Alph replied. The Captains decided to take a break and they let the Pikmin play around. Keith sat down to get some rest. _What was that all about? Whisperings giving warnings, fading light bulbs, the Wraith suddenly appearing. _Keith sighed, _At least I got the fourth part. We just need to find the one at the Formidable Oak and I can return home._

"Hey, Keith?" Keith turned to his right and saw Alex.

"Yeah?"

"I got your part back there. You dropped it while we were running away from the Wraith." Alex said.

"Dropped it?" Keith asked, confused, "I didn't drop it. I have the fourth part right here." Keith took out the fourth part that he got back in the cave.

"Really?" Alex said giving a confused look, "Because I have a part too that I got from the cave while we were running from the Wraith. I assumed that you dropped it," Alex took out something. It was undoubtedly another part.

"Huh?" Keith said, taking the part, "Alph said that there were only four more parts that we needed to find left. He never mentioned a fifth part..."

"Maybe it was an undetected part." Alex suggested, "it probably wasn't giving off a signal, which is why Alph couldn't detect it."

"Oh, okay." Keith said. He thanked Alex for giving him the part, and he placed it in his satchel.

It was already the end of the day, and they dismissed the 200 Pikmin into the now fully combined Onion. Keith was just about to change Alex and himself into Pikmin, when Brittany came up to them.

"Guys! Do you mind sleeping in the Drake tonight? Since we're heading to the Formidable Oak tomorrow, we want to make sure we have all the leaders together so we can form a plan." Keith and Alex eventually agreed, and they went inside the Drake.

"Louie!" Brittany yelled, "Alex is taking your room tonight."

"Huh?" Louie said, "But, where should _I _sleep?"

"Just find a couch somewhere."

"But-"

"Couch." Brittany said, almost threateningly. Keith, not wanting to be a part of this, went into his small room. He laid down on the bed, hoping to get a nice rest before the day when they would go to the Formidable Oak. Yawning, Keith went to sleep. He had dreams of tricks and illusions, and Keith couldn't tell whether that was good or bad.

* * *

Familiarity.

Is what it felt as it changed back into its familiar form, and slithered out of the package of grass and dirt. It was dark, but it could still see. There was a bed to its left.

The human. It was right there. Right there!

But no. It couldn't _Possess_ the human now. If it was correct then they were in the mechanical scrap of metal that flies in the air. No, it needed to find something else, something more suitable.

It slithered out of the small room and into a larger room. It heard strange noises coming from the couch on the other side.

The thing slithered over to where the strange noises were coming from. It was coming from a blonde-haired man sleeping on the couch.

Yes! The thing recognized this man immediately. It would be a suitable host to take on. The thing slithered onto the man and _Possessed _him. The thing tortured the man, letting him become accustomed to his new leader.

The man's mind finally succumbed, and he let out one weak, frail word.

"Foo...oood..."

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, Muscles, or Toxic. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though, and the other Pikmin from Flare's Onion.

**Note from Author**: Man, I haven't updated in a while. Sorry! I've been caught up with real life, but you don't want to hear about my life story, or I'll be interrupted by Brittany! Anyways, there's still a few more chapters to go. Even though it looks like the end of the story is near, it's not! I may not be able to post again in a while, because of time. I'm still open to input, though not as much as before. I'll still gladly accept any reviews, feedback, or criticism, positive or negative!


	18. Day 14

**Day 14 - Separated**

"WHAT THE HELL LOUIE!? HAVE YOU GONE MAD!?" Keith was standing on top of his bed, holding his satchel threateningly, as if that would do any good. Louie was acting _really_ strangely. He kept yelling, "Food! Food! FOOD!" He had barged into Keith's room first thing in the morning yelling this, which woke Keith up. Panicking, he grabbed his satchel and was now standing on top of his bed yielding his satchel like a weapon.

"What has gotten into you Louie!? Calm down!" Keith practically screamed at him.

"Food! Food!" Louie kept running around the room acting crazily. Then, he quickly ran out.

_ What the hell just happened?_ Keith thought. He slowly exited his room, and walked around. It was quiet... until Keith heard some more noises coming from the Control Room.

"Louie! What happened?" That was Brittany.

"Our juice! Not again! Get back here thief!" That was Charlie.

"Louie, calm down!" That was Olimar. Keith heard some crashes coming from the Control Room. Keith didn't want to know if he should investigate and find out what was happening.

"Hey, what's going on...?" Keith turned around and saw Alex behind him. It looks he had just woken up.

"Something's wrong with Louie. He keeps yelling 'Food' and he's runnin' around on a rampage." When Keith explained this, Alex's eyes went wide with recognition. "H-Has this happened before?" Keith asked.

"Yeah..." Alex said, "He was like this before too, but I thought he had calmed down by now..." With that, Alex ran into the Control Room, and Keith followed.

The scene was a mess. The five Captains were in there; Louie running around being a lunatic and screaming "Food!", the other four trying to either clean up the mess or trying to calm Louie down. There were empty juice bottles littered everywhere. space suits and KopPads were strewn all over the floor. Alph was on the floor trying to clean up the juice spills and the scattered equipment. Charlie was also cleaning... actually, the truth is, he was cleaning the juice stains off of his rubber ducky. Not very helpful.

Brittany and Olimar were trying to calm Louie down; Olimar was trying to do it calmly and rationally ("Louie, calm down! You need to snap out of it!"). Brittany was being a bit more... assertive ("STOP IT LOUIE! DO I NEED TO SNAP YOU OUT OF THIS MYSELF!?" *_SLAP!_*). Unfortunately, that well-rounded slap didn't snap Louie out of his lunatics, despite leaving a large red mark on his face. He continued to run around in his dazed craziness.

"Um... uh..." Keith was unsure of what to do. Alex also seemed surprised. Keith simply watched the scene with his mouth agape. Then, Louie ran up to the control panel at the front of the room and was randomly hitting buttons.

"W-Whoa!" All of them besides Louie yelled. The ship had lurched to the side and they all slammed into the left wall of the room. Keith landed head-first into the bolted steel, and an immense headache throbbed into his head.

"Rrrhh!" Keith growled. He was annoyed with Louie at this point. Keith didn't know what had caused Louie to act like this, or what had caused his mood swings, but Keith wasn't going to just let Louie keep wrecking havoc at this point. With one hand on the wall and his other hand on the floor, Keith pushed himself up. More pain ignited in his head, and Keith grabbed into his head with a free hand. Louie played with some more controls, and the ship lurched even more. The others stumbled around while trying to keep their balance. It was hard for Keith to keep himself up with a headache and keeping his satchel in place.

"Ugh... Louie!" Keith yelled at the man, "Stop it right NOW!" Louie was completely oblivious to Keith's demands though, and he played with the ships controls even more. The ships just kept swinging back and forth, and at some point, Keith felt the ship plummet towards Earth.

* * *

"Look at that!"

"The Captains' ship!"

"It's going all weird!"

First one Pikmin noticed, then two, then ten, then fifty, and soon hundreds of the Pikmin were looking out the windows of the Onion to see the spasms of the Captains' ship.

"You think they're okay?" Electra asked Flare.

"I'm... not sure. I hope they're okay though..." Flare responded, quite unsure of himself.

"The ship is falling!" "Look at it go!" The ship had now begun to plummet towards the planet. The Pikmin had seen the ship do this a lot of times, where the ship would plummet towards the planet head-first with fire coming out of its back end. This time however, the ship wasn't doing that. All of a sudden, the fire simply disappeared from behind the ship, and it began to slowly fall towards the Earth. Its acceleration went faster.

Faster.

Faster.

Faster, until it went so fast, that fire appeared at the head of the ship, igniting it. To the Pikmin, the ship looked like one of those bright flashes of light that would soar across the sky at night.

The Onion lurched, and it followed the ship towards the planet, as it usually did.

"Maybe... maybe it's just some minor malfunction. They'll probably be okay when we land." Electra commented.

"I sure hope so Electra..." Flare let out with a sigh.

* * *

"W-What happened!?" The ship suddenly became eerily quiet. Sort of like what happens when an air conditioner suddenly turns off.

"That was the ship's ignition." Brittany quietly said, "If Louie turned turned that off..."

"We're falling!" Alph shouted. Sure enough, Keith slowly felt the ship falling. It started to roll around and turn upside down. Everybody soon crashed into the ceiling.

"Wait! We need to turn the ship's ignition back on! _We can't just let it crash!_" Keith yelled. He tried running over to the control panel on the ceiling Keith was halfway to the panel, when it began to get harder and harder to run. The velocity was ripping across his entire body, and Keith felt as if his entire anatomy would soon rip apart.

"Keith, you need to hold onto something!" Alph yelled as held onto a bolt on the ceiling.

"No! I... have to... stop him!" Keith shouted back, using a lot of effort while having to keep himself upright. At that point, Keith lunged towards the control panel. Because the ship was heading downwards, however, and Keith tried jumping upwards, Keith quickly slammed his head into the ceiling, with a large cry of "Ow ow OW!" Stars swirled into Keith's vision, and he began to see red. Keith tried to snap out of it by shaking his head, which only brought on more pain.

_I... need to get... to the control panel! _Fortunately, the velocity kept Keith clung to the ceiling. Or was it the floor? Keith's sense of of what was up and what was down had seriously diminished because of how the ship was upside down and that Keith slammed his head into the ceiling. The good thing though was that the control panel was now right in front of Keith, albeit it being upside down. Using his last bit of energy, Keith grabbed onto the control panel and pulled himself towards the panel.

_Which button is it!? _Keith frantically thought as his eyes swept over the panel. _I'll just press random buttons; one of them's got to be it!_ Keith began to randomly push, pull, or switch any contraption on the panel, whether it be button, lever, or switch.

Then Keith pushed a somewhat small, red button, and Keith sudden;y felt the ship become upright again. Everybody else who was originally on the ceiling now fell back towards the floor. They got up and began rubbing their heads, or complaining about the pain they received.

"Hah... huff..." Charlie puffed, "Good job... huff... Keith. You saved... the ship from crashing..."

"Uh... thanks, I guess. I said we had to, so..." Keith replied. He looked out the windshield. They were in a forestry area, and the ground was half mile below them, although it looked a lo. If Keith hadn't pressed the button for a few seconds longer... "At least we're all safe, right? Maybe now we should just-"

"FOOOOOD!"

"Huh? Hey, what the-!?" Keith looked to his right and saw something blue rush at him, which harshly shoved Keith onto the floor. "Louie!" Keith shouted. Louie ran up to the control panel and began to play even more with the controls. "No!" Keith ran up to Louie and tried to separate him from the panel, all the while the ship began to tumble and turn again. "Guys, help me!" All five of the other rushed over to Keith and helped in separating Louie from the board. To Keith's dismay, Louie held firm.

* * *

"It... stopped falling!" Ping exclaimed. As the Onion followed the ship, the ship had suddenly stopped falling and was now just floating in the air with fire once again appearing behind the ship. The Onion was now hovering alongside the ship.

"Um... that's good, right?" male Aqua asked.

"I think so." Rok replied, "The ship had never fallen down head-first in such an erratic way before, so maybe they fixed it now." The Pikmin kept watching the ship there, just in case. Suddenly one of the Pikmin called out,

"I hope Alex is okay..." female Aqua said to herself. The other leaders of Flame's Onion were thinking the same thing.

"The ship! It's going crazy again!" Sure enough, the ship was beginning to get all spasmodic. Then, the ship began to head straight for the Onion at full speed.

"It's going to crash into us!" someone yelled. Despite the fact that they saw a ship heading straight towards them, the Pikmin didn't stop looking out the windows, mainly because the windows of the Onion weren't made of glass.

Closer.

Closer...

*_SLAM!* _The ship bashed into the side of the of the Onion, causing all the Pikmin to lose their balance, and many Pikmin fell.

"Look! Someone fell out!" a Pikmin yelled.

"Which Pikmin fell out!?" Flare frantically asked.

"Not a Pikmin! A Captain! Look!" another Pikmin yelled. Flare, Electra, Poy, and Ping having quickly regained their composure, took a look out of the window again. They saw someone crash through the window of the metal ship, and that person began to fall towards the ground.

"That's Keith!" Flare yelled, "We need to save him! He's not wearing his space suit! Um... Ping! Get some of the winged Pikmin and get him to safety, _stat_!"

"G-Got it!" Ping quickly gathered nine of her best flyers, and they flew out of the Onion.

"Should I go help them Flame?" Ariel asked Flame.

"Um... I think they've got it covered. Stay here for now, so we can see if anything else happens..." Flame responded.

Outside of the Onion, Ping and the other nine Winged Pikmin were frantically looking for Keith. "Over there!" Ping indicated, "He's already halfway to the surface. Let's go!" Ping and the other flyers raced towards Keith. He was only 300 feet to the surface now, and the Pikmin were still 300 feet away from Keith!

Keith was 200 feet away; the Pikmin were also 200. "We need to go faster! We can't let him die!" They quickened their rate.

Keith was now 100 feet away, and the Pikmin had closed in on Keith by 50 feet.

"Got him!" Just as Keith was 50 feet away from the ground, the Pikmin caught up to him, grabbed onto him, and tried to slow his velocity. They slowed his velocity just enough so that Keith had was able to gently reach the ground. The Pikmin found a bed of flowers to place Keith on. "He's still unconscious." Ping said. Truthfully, Ping wasn't sure if he was okay or not. She just didn't want to say just yet that he was dead, "We should wait for him to wake up before doing anything." The Pikmin, after a while, agreed on this, and they stayed protectively by Keith, waiting hopefully for a chance that he might soon wake up.

* * *

_The ship..._

"Ahh! O-Oh, w-wha...?" Keith woke up with a yell but quickly stopped himself. He sat up and quickly realized that his surroundings were all wrong. Where were the other Captains? And why wasn't he in the ship anymore? All Keith saw were the large, ominous trees towering what seemed like miles above him, considering that he was only an inch tall. He was also sitting on a bed of flowers all around him.

"He's awake!" someone yelled to Keith's left. Keith saw in his peripheral vision that something was coming his way. Before Keith had a chance to look, Keith was glomped by the thing that had rushed into Keith. Actually, no. It wasn't one thing that had tackled him, it was multiple things, 10 to be precise, and they were all the color pink.

"Ping! The Winged Pikmin!" Keith exclaimed once he realized who the things were. He was happy to see them, but something still bothered him, "Why are you guys here?" he asked.

"You fell!" Ping responded, separating herself from Keith, "We were all up there, about half a mile from the ground, and then the ship crashed with the Onion, and then you fell out a window, so me and the nine others came out and we went -_whoosh!_- and then we caught you! You almost hit the ground too, and that would have been bad, because...!" she went like on like this at a rate of 10 words per second. Keith zoned out after a while, as he began to remember what had happened,

_ While Keith and the other five Captains tried to separate Louie from the control panel, the ship was moving around rapidly. At some point, Keith remembered that they had crashed into the Onion, and the ship moved with a sudden **jolt!** He remembered himself flying through the air after they had crashed into the Onion, and Keith had crashed out of a window. The moment Keith made contact with the glass, he had blacked out..._

"Keith? Keith! Keith Keith Keith Keith Keith Keith Keith Keith Keith Keith-"

"What!?" Keith said abruptly. Ping had snapped Keith out of his flashback by reciting his name multiple times. It kind of annoyed Keith. The other winged Pikmin were playing around with each other, but Ping was still right in front of Keith.

"So, weren't we great!" Ping asked.

"Uh... yeah!" Keith replied, feeling slightly guilty that he hadn't been listening to most of what Ping said, "You were fantastic! Thanks for saving me!"

"Oooh!" Ping said very, very happily. She even _looked_ absolutely gleeful, and she glomped Keith a second time, knocking him over again. "Your welcome Keith!" she exclaimed, snuggling with him. As cute and uplifting as it was, Keith still felt something, a tiny bit, that something was wrong.

"Uh... Ping?" Keith asked with a little uncertainty.

"Yes?" Ping replied and looked straight into Keith's eyes. She was still latched onto Keith.

"Um... do you know where the ship and the Onion and the ship are right now?" Keith asked.

"The ship?" Ping released herself from Keith, and she looked around for a bit. "Ooh! I remember now! An hour ago, we saw the ship and the Onion land somewhere all the way over there!" Ping indicated somewhere to east. "I think they might be far away."

"And... what time is it now?" Keith inquired.

"Uh, I don't know! But if I had to guess, maybe sometime around noon. Maybe later."

"Huh..." Keith thought to himself for a moment, "Okay then. We'll leave soon. Can you gather up the other nine Pikmin? I need to do something quickly." Ping went off to gather the other Winged Pikmin, and Keith took a look at his satchel. He still had it with him, which relieved him. He searched the inside and checked to see if he still had everything with him.

Form Changer? Check. Communications Device? Check. KopPad? Check. Flower from Electra? Check (although, it was now shriveled and withered up. Keith still kept it anyways). Map of the Forest of Hope? Check ("Why do I still need this map?"). Parts for the Wormhole Transmitter? Che... wait a minute. There was one, two, three, four... where's the fifth part? The one that Alex gave Keith yesterday? The one that Alex said that Keith had dropped back in the cave of the Phosbat? The one that Alex also said that it probably wasn't emitting a signal?

"Oh... where the heck is that part?" Keith said silently to himself. "M-Maybe I just left it back in the ship. I guess we better hurry to them if that's the case. But before me and the winged Pikmin leave..." Keith took out his KopPad and contacted Alph.

"K-Keith!? You're still alive!?" Alph asked incredulously.

"Yeah. The Winged Pikmin here saved me." Keith replied.

"Wow... the Pikmin sure seem to love you humans. What kind of charm do you have on them?" Keith didn't know Alph was serious or if he was just trying to make a joke.

"Um... kindness?" Keith replied uncertainly. "Anyways, where are you guys?"

"According to the map on the KopPad... you seem pretty far away from where we are. We should try walking towards each other and meet up right away."

"Okay. By the way, what happened to Louie?"

"Louie?" Alph's face turned to disappointment. "We managed to land the ship safely, but once we did, Louie ran off somewhere. He was fast, and we couldn't catch up, do we returned back to the ship. And then you called."

"Oh, okay. So should we start heading towards each other?"

"That would be best. See you soon Keith!" With that, the transmission ended.

"Okay then. We should get going," Keith said to himself, "Ping! Are you ready?"

"Yep! So can we leave now?" Ping asked.

"Yeah," Keith replied, "Okay! Let's go!" Keith commanded, and they headed off to the east.

The Winged Pikmin kept talking the entire way. To Keith, it was mainly just useless girl stuff that they talked about. Which Pikmin they had a crush on, which Winged Pikmin had the prettiest style of flower, stuff like that. Keith felt a bit embarrassed that they were just talking about their secrets when Keith was _right there_. Also because of the fact that Keith was the only boy in the group.

_It doesn't matter, _Keith thought, _they're Pikmin, and I'm a human, so I don't really have anything to do with what they're talking about. Then again, I'm also technically a Pikmin too... It's going to be a looooong walk..._

They've been traveling for an hour, or was it two hours? Either way, Keith was feeling sore. He was glad that they hadn't encountered any monsters on the way, but Keith realized then that he hadn't had anything to eat in the past night. He hadn't been able to replenish his energy as a Pikmin, because he slept as a human last night. He had also forgotten drink a bottle of fruit juice last night, because he thought that he would've able to have one this morning. _Of course, Louie had to ruin it all. What was wrong with him anyways? And where did that fifth part go? Did Louie steal it while I wasn't looking?_ More questions, no answers. Better hurry up!

At some point while traveling, Keith checked his KopPad again. He and the other Captains were getting closer to each other, probably just another 30 minutes before they met up with each other. Keith sped up his pace, and the Winged Pikmin followed eagerly.

"C'mon we're almost there!" Keith yelled, looking behind him to shout to the Winged Pikmin, "We'll meet up with them soon!"

"Keith, look out!" Ping shouted, indicating something in front of Keith.

"H-Huh?" Before Keith had the chance to see what was in front of him, he tripped and fell face-first into the ground. "Ow, OW! W-What was that?" Keith said, slowly and painfully lifting his head.

"..."

"Uh, guys? What happened...?" Keith got up and turned around. Behind him, he saw the Winged Pikmin, but they were all staring at something very strangely. "Um... what are you looking at?"

"...Don't you see them?" Ping asked, indicating to something below the Winged Pikmin. Keith looked to where Ping was indicating, and saw them.

Pikmin. There were seven of them, to be exact. They were your average Pikmin. Almost. They were the same size as a regular Pikmin, they had the stem, and all of them had only a leaf at the top. The only thing was their color. It wasn't too hard to guess their color, mainly because of one thing:

These Pikmin didn't have a color. Nothing. They were clear, but not so clear that it made them invisible. They kind of looked like what would happen if you placed water in a glass cup. You would know that water was in the cup because of the way light distorts around the water. The same thing applied here. You could tell that the Pikmin were there because of the way light distorted around their body. You could also see lines around their body, which made it easier to determine their shape.

They also had one other thing. Eyes. But that was it. No nose, ears, mouth, hair, or any other facial feature. Just eyes. Knowing nothing else, Keith decided to call them Clear Pikmin.

"Um... hello there." Keith said unsteadily to the Clear Pikmin. "Uh... can you understand me?" One of the Clear Pikmin came up to Keith, and after looking a him for a while, the Pikmin quickly nodded.

"Oh! You can?" Keith said "Why won't you speak to me?" The Clear Pikmin just tilted its head at Keith. "I don't think these guys can speak." Keith said to Ping.

"Well, they _have_ to! Try something else." Ping suggested.

_Something else...?_ _Oh, of course! I still have this._ Keith took out the Form Changer.

"Okay little buddy," Keith said to the Clear Pikmin, "I'm just going to scan you quickly. Just stay still for a moment, okay?" Keith scanned the Pikmin with the Form Changer, and the [Clear Pikmin] registered as a new form to change into. Keith set the device up to turn into a [Clear Pikmin], and soon Keith had changed form.

_I don't feel _too_ different. I still feel like a normal Pikmin. _This is what Keith thought once he had turned into a Clear Pikmin. He felt mostly the same, except for one thing. Keith felt strangely hollow. He felt as if he _needed_ something, but Keith couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"So, how do you feel Keith?" Ping asked, going up to Keith.

Keith was about to say something... but he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't get a word out.

"Keith? Is something wrong?" Ping asked anxiously. Keith _badly_ wanted to say "I'm okay," but he just couldn't that simple phrase out. Keith unintentionally stamped his foot in frustration.

"Keith!" Ping cried out, "Are you okay? Do you need a hug?" Now Keith _really_ wanted to say something. A short, simple "No!" At this point, Keith gave up, and he turned back into a human.

"Oh my God, I can speak again!" Keith let out, relieved.

"You're back!" Ping said, rushing at Keith.

"Wait, P-!" Too late. Keith was tackled again, and Ping was enjoying her embrace with Keith. _When was Ping ever like this? _Keith thought. The Winged Pikmin were giggling, and even the Clear Pikmin looked amused. _How embarrassing. At least it's just the Pikmin..._

"Guys look! He's over here!" someone yelled behind Keith. It sounded like,

"Charlie!?" Keith exclaimed.

"Keith! You're here!" That was Alph. They all went up to Keith, who was still lying on the ground with Ping on top of him.

"Not to be intrusive…" Alex asked, "but what are you and Ping doing down there?"

Keith sighed before saying, "This is the third time she did this. Please... help me."

"Aw...!" Ping complained, slowly letting go of Keith. Charlie and Olimar helped Keith get up after that.

"Well, at least we finally found each other!" Keith stated.

"Yeah, but Louie's still gone." Alex said. "He jumped into a cave right after we landed."

"A cave...?" Keith thought, "Um, anyways, did you see the Pikmin over there?" Keitth indicated towards the Clear Pikmin.

"A new Pikmin!" Olimar exclaimed. He went up to the Clear Pikmin, took out his journal, and began to write notes in them. The other Captains simply stared at the new Pikmin

"I discovered them a few minutes before you found me," Keith explained, "I called them Clear Pikmin, for lack of a better name."

"Did you find anything about them that stands out from the other Pikmin, besides them being clear?" Olimar asked.

"Well, yes, but they're not very helpful. One, they don't have any facial features besides eyes,"

"That's like the Dream Pikmin!" Alex exclaimed.

"Yeah, I guess that's true. Anyways, the other thing I found out is they're inability to speak,"

"Maybe they're telepathic, also like the Dream Pikmin." Alex interrupted.

"Please let me finish." Keith said, "They're not telepathic, because I used the Form Changer to turn into one of the them. I felt like any other Pikmin. Except for one thing. It was that I had a weird hollow feeling inside me, almost as if I _needed_ something, but I couldn't quite tell what it was that I wanted. Also, I know that these Pikmin can't speak because when I tried to talk as a Clear Pikmin, nothing came out of my mouth." Olimar kept writing all this down as Keith spoke. When Keith stopped saying anything, Olimar looked up,

"And... was there anything else you noticed about these Pikmin?"

"Nothing much," Keith replied.

"Well, it seems as if they will need further examination. Anyways, the day is growing short. Perhaps we should return now?" They all agreed on this, and they began to walk forward, when Alex called out,

"Hey, guys? The Clear Pikmin aren't following us." he said. They turned around, and sure enough, the Clear Pikmin were all just standing where they left them, staring.

"Maybe they just need the good 'ol whistle." Charlie said. He blew his whistle, signaling towards the Clear Pikmin. But the Clear Pikmin didn't follow. Charlie kept blowing into his whistle multiple times, until he was out of breath.

"Captain, stop it!" Brittany said, "Do you _want_ to get asthma?"

"Hmm... Keith, did you find an Onion associated with the Clear Pikmin?"

"Um, not that I know of. It was only the Clear Pikmin I saw. No Onion. Maybe they just survive during the night?"

"It seems entirely possible. Maybe we should leave them here." Olimar suggested.

"Really!?" Alph exclaimed. "We can't just leave them here! They could die!"

"It seems like... it's the only thing we can do, Alph." Charlie said, still huffing a bit from blowing into his whistle so hard. "They... refuse to respond to the whistle, and we need to get back before it gets dark."

Eventually, they decided that they would have to leave the Clear Pikmin. Keith felt bad for them. There must be something more about them, Keith knew it! He just didn't know exactly what that could be though...

* * *

"Ahh! Finally! We've returned!" Charlie exclaimed when they had returned to the ship. "And still an hour to spare!" It was about 5:30 or 6:00 P.M. by the time they had returned. They still had until 7:00 P.M. Meanwhile though, Keith was starving.

"Can one of you get a drink...?" Keith said, clutching his stomach, "I... don't think I can move anymore..." Keith sat down and tried to relinquish the pain in his stomach by curling into a ball. Brittany went inside to get a bottle of fruit juice. She came back out holding an orange-blue container. Keith quickly drank its contents. It was slightly sour, but was still mainly sweet nonetheless. Keith felt _much_ better right after the refreshment, and Brittany took the empty bottle from Keith to return it back to the ship. "Thanks Brittany!" he said to her. Once Brittany had returned the bottle to the ship, she came back out and the seven Captains grouped together.

"Soooo... what do we now?" Alph asked.

"We still have time." Olimar said, "We could probably gather the Pikmin and go find Louie in the cave."

"And why should we try to save him?" Brittany snapped, "He's done nothing good for us, so what's the point?"

"Well, we could find something of interest in the cave. Maybe more fruit." Olimar said.

"Um, I don't mind if we go find Louie right now." Keith spoke up, "Really, we have nothing else to do, and I would like to do something else besides going around finding the parts for my device."

"See? Keith even wants to." Olimar said contently.

"Ugh... fine. Captain? What say you?" Brittany inquired.

"I think it's fine. Besides, Olimar has experience with caves, so we should be safe." Charlie replied

"Alex?" Olimar asked.

"Um..." Alex said nervously.

_Afraid of caves? I don't blame him__. _Keith thought.

"Well, all of you already said that you were going... So I'll go to!" Alex finally said.

It was settled. They'd go into the cave to find Louie. They gathered 140 Pikmin, 20 of each kind. They all used the bathroom quickly, and had a refreshment of fruit juice, and they headed off towards the cave.

The cave wasn't too far from the ship. When they got to it, the entrance sent shivers up Keith's spine. Keith was expecting a large opening, encased in the side of a mountain or something. _This _cave had a simpler entrance, and one that creeped Keith to the bone. The entrance was a simple dirt mound protruding from the ground. At the center of this mound was a large hole leading deep into the Earth.

"I'll go first," Alex said, and he jumped into the entrance of the cave. One by one, the other Captains soon began to jump in too, along with the Pikmin. Keith had a last-minute strike of doubt. Did he really want to do this? Go into this deep, dark, cave full of who knows what?

Keith pushed aside these thoughts, as the sixth Captain jumped into the cave. The rest of the Pikmin were waiting for Keith to jump into the cave. _This is it._ Keith thought, his heart thumping wildly. Keith straightened himself, and said to the rest of the Pikmin as courageously as he could,

"Alright then! Let's go!" With that, he and the rest of the Pikmin jumped into the cave.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, Muscles, or Toxic. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though, and the other Pikmin from Flare's Onion.

**Note from Author**: Another chapter with Five. Thousand. Words. God, I'm tired. Anyways, cave next chapter! I'm going to make each sublevel a separate chapter. Also, the Clear Pikmin seem useless now, but you'll see how I use them later in the story. If any of you have ideas for the cave, I'll be glad to hear it! I will also appreciate any reviews and criticism!


	19. Day ? - Sublevel 1

**Day ? - Sublevel 1**

"Oof! God... damn it...!" Keith said harshly when he landed. How could he have been so _stupid_ to think that he would have landed on something soft when he got the bottom? Instead, he fell flat on his chest on the cold, hard ground. The Captains were okay, which didn't surprise Keith, considering that they were wearing space suits that protected their bodies, but what really surprised Keith was the fact that Alex looked okay. Alex must have noticed Keith staring at him, because Alex said to Keith,

"You get used to it after a while. It gets easier and easier to land without hurting yourself." he said. Keith got up while thinking about this. _But there's like, a whole _six_ seconds of falling! How can you possibly land safely with a height like that!? _Keith decided not to think about it right now, as Keith realized he could see barely anything, except for the light that the Captains' antennae were making.

"It's so dark here..." Keith said, "How do you possibly move around in this darkness?" Alph, Brittany, and Charlie were wondering the same thing. After all, it was Keith and the Koppaites' first time exploring a cave. Olimar and Alex seemed unfazed though.

"I have an astounding little gadget that will help us see better!" Olimar exclaimed. He pulled out a small light bulb, and attached it to a socket on his space suit. The light bulb soon lit up, and entire cave became illuminated in its light. "Alex, Louie, and I had found a larger version of this device while exploring a cave. I had the Global Piknology Studios back on Hocotate recreate it into a smaller version, which is what you're seeing right now. This is quite a helpful, impressive device, and I often find myself using much of the Stellar Orb!"

_Stellar Orb?_ Keith thought. "Um, that's a light bulb." Keith said before he could stop himself.

"A light bulb!?" Olimar exclaimed, "Alex said the same thing when we had first discovered it. Your race, the humans, has had some stunning technology we came across, this one being one of the most helpful devices." Olimar concluded.

_A light bulb, "stunning technology"? And to think that you see it in every household back in the twenty-first century Human Universe..._ Keith thought to himself.

"Shall we move on then?" Olimar said. The others agreed, and they followed Olimar with their 140 Pikmin. Olimar was leading, and they went through a lot of twists and turns, but overall nothing much really happened... which made Keith feel wrong again. He felt the same empty feeling that he felt back at the Tropical Wilds and the Distant Tundra, when the Plasm Wraith had made itself an inhabitant of. _Could the Wraith be here too?_ Keith wondered. _I wonder what it wants anyways..._ The Pikmin and some of the other Captains were passing the time by talking to each other.

At some point, Flare went up to Keith and asked, "So, how did you fall out of the ship Keith? And what did you do after Ping and the other Winged Pikmin saved you?" The other Pikmin leaders of Flare's Onion also went to Keith, and wanted to listen to the same thing.

"Why didn't you guys ask Ping about that?" Keith asked.

"Well, we diiid..." Electra started,

"But she keeps bragging instead of actually giving a story," Poy said.

"I was _not_ bragging!" Ping retaliated.

"Yes, you were bragging!" Poy talked back, "All you kept saying was that you were able to-"

"Okay guys! Calm down!" Keith interrupted. He really didn't want to hear what Ping had been "bragging" about, "I'll tell you what happened." _Mainly to pass the time..._

Keith was telling them the story, with Ping interrupting at "crucial" moments ("We _flew_ as fast as possible, and then we caught him! Ooooh, and then after he woke up, we tackled him in a big group hug!") _Please shut up Ping, _Keith thought, with a tiny bit of sarcasm, _we really don't need to hear about how you got to hug me... _Keith didn't bear any ill will towards the little pink Pikmin. It was just embarrassing for Keith to listen to her side of the story.

When Keith was finished with the story, the leaders went off somewhere in the group to do something else. _How long have we been walking?_ It was probably just a few minutes, but the darkness and looming shadows made Keith feel as if he's been in this cave forever. The light bulb (or "Stellar Orb" as Olimar called it) didn't help either.

Eventually, Olimar stopped dead short, and everyone else stopped too. "Be quiet..." Olimar said softly. Keith and Alex told the Pikmin to be quiet for a moment. They were in a somewhat narrow tunnel, and ahead of them lay a turn. In the silence, Keith could hear a series of noises coming from beyond the turn. It sort of sounded like *_Sngh-gh-gh-gh-zzzz...*_, followed by a short whistling sound. This repeated on and on. It sort of sounded like... snoring?

"A Bulborb." Alex said, "It's sleeping. You guys stay here, maybe I can negotiate with it." Alex slowly went ahead and turned the corner. He walked on, and soon he was out of sight from view. After a while though, Keith began to hear his voice again. "Hey..." Keith heard Alex's voice echo to the group, followed by a dimmer series of _hey, hey, hey..._

"He's talking with it..." Alph said what everyone was thinking.

"I'm Alex," Keith heard Alex say, "We need to get past you, so can you please..."

"He stopped." Olimar said, "What-"

"Guys, help!" Alex's voice came loudly down the tunnel. Soon, Keith saw Alex running towards their group too, being chased by a monstrous shadow behind him. It was too dark to tell what the monster was. "That thing's not a Bulborb! It's something else!" Alex soon got to their group, and the large monster that was following entered the radius of light around Olimar, and the monster became visible. Everyone was at first rooted to the spot, afraid of what it might look like.

_That's weird, _Keith thought as he saw the monster steadily approaching them, _this monster doesn't look any different from a regular red bulborb._ It was the same as any old red bulborb. Large red rump with white spots. Eyes on stalks. Two feet with two toes each...

"Guys, snap out of it!" Alex shouted, "We're going to have to kill it!" The bulborb had covered quite a bit of distance as the other Captains had been daydreaming, and it was looking just as hungry as any bulborb. Keith and the others soon snapped out of their coma-like state, and they got ready to fight. The Pikmin got ready too, waiting to be thrown at the beast.

Just as the beast got closer... and closer...

"Now!" someone shouted. The shout was a command to the Pikmin, and they swarmed towards the Bulborb. It quickly died with a mass of 140 Pikmin.

"That wasn't so hard!" Alph said optimistically. Alex still looked a bit unsure though.

"I don't know..." Alex said softly, "It wouldn't respond when I tried talking to it... and when it got up, it growled at me, and it didn't sound like a Bulborb..."

_ Now that I think about, _Keith thought, _the bulborb wasn't speaking at all. I thought that was just because it was hungry, but maybe..._

"Well, the good thing is that it's dead." Charlie said, "Let's just find that scoundrel Louie and get out of here. I'm already getting hungry..."

"Oh, please. Man up Captain." Brittany said, rolling her eyes.

"They rounded the corner, and right there, they saw a large hole protruding out of the ground."

"What's that?" Keith asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Alex inquired.

"Um..." Keith wasn't sure where Alex was going along with this.

"It's a hole leading to the next sublevel."

"Sublevel? You're not saying..."

"Did we forget to mention this?" Olimar interrupted. Keith and the Koppaites gave Olimar a confused look. "Ah. Maybe we have forgotten. You see, the caves on this planet are kind of different. They contain multiple levels."

"Levels!?" Brittany exclaimed. "Then how deep could this one be!? For all we know, Louie could be _miles_ underground!"

"Settle down Brittany!" Olimar said nervously, "Most caves usually just contain a handful of sublevels. If we're lucky, we should find Louie within a sublevel less than 5." Olimar explained. "Anyways, don't you think we should head deeper now?" Keith and the others eventually nodded their heads.

They went towards the hole leading to the next sublevel. As they did, Keith took one last glance at the dead Bulborb... but it wasn't there. The carcass had disappeared from where it was supposed to be. _Where did it..._ Keith suddenly saw something glint in the darkness. Where the corpse of the Bulborb should have been, there was a tiny bit of gold fluid, slowly seeping into the ground. And then, the golden fluid disappeared. Keith heart was racing wildly. _The... the Wraith? _Keith suddenly realized why the Bulborb probably wasn't talking. It wasn't a bulborb at all, but rather, was the Plasm Wraith mimicking one. _Should I tell them...?_

No, Keith decided. If he told them, they might panic. He decided to keep this to himself... for now. Though, Keith knew that he would have to be very cautious from now on.

"Keith..." _Huh? Who was that?_

"Keith!" Keith snapped out of his thoughts, and realized that he was the only Captain who hadn't jumped in the entrance yet. Flare had snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Oh! Sorry..." Keith quickly said. He approached the entrance that would lead to the second sublevel. Gathering up what little courage he could muster, he and the last few Pikmin still on the first sublevel jumped into the entrance that would lead them to the second.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, Muscles, or Toxic. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though, and the other Pikmin from Flare's Onion.

**Note from Author**: I know the chapter's shorter than usual. All the sublevels are going to be like this. Hey, think of it as me being able to update faster! Anyways, if any of you have ideas for the cave, I'll be glad to hear it! I will also greatly appreciate any reviews and criticism!


	20. Day ? - Sublevel 2

**Note From Author**: I didn't know this until kingalex1234 told me, but apparently, Alex has never been inside a cave before. This is his first time. Just thought that you should keep that in mind.

* * *

**Day ? - Sublevel 2**

_Alright, here it comes!_ *_BAM* "_Ow, ow, OW OW OW!" Keith hollered when he landed on the second sublevel. He had tried to land this time without hurting himself, although he failed miserably at the effort. He had landed on his feet, but he hadn't bent his legs enough, and now the force of the impact was causing serious pain in his legs and feet. "Ow... ah..." Keith collapsed on the floor holding one of his legs."

"Keith!" Olimar exclaimed, "Are you okay?"

"I'm... fine..." Keith said, each word needing effort to come out, "just... a bad landing... foot hurts..." Keith continued to roll on the floor whimpering. He probably looked like a baby, but Keith didn't care; the pain was too much to bear anyways.

"Will this help?" Electra said. _Huh?_ Keith thought, _Why did she sound so joyful when she said tha-_

"AHHHH! … Ow... Electra... why?" To Keith's dismay, the thing that was supposed to "help" was a nice, friendly electric shock.

"What? You seemed all nervous ever since we jumped in the cave, so I thought that I'd just shock you back to reality!" Electra said gleefully. Keith wasn't feeling so optimistic, and he continued to lay on the floor.

"Um... why did the yellow Pikmin shock Keith?" Alph asked.

"She said something about, 'shocking him back to reality.'" Alex answered for Keith, "uh, anyways Keith. Why don't you change into a Pikmin for now? You might heal a bit."

"How would you know that?" Keith asked.

"Just a theory..."

"Ugh... okay." Keith slowly took out his Form Changer, and changed into a Pikmin.

"Better?" Alex asked.

"I'm feeling... better." Keith said. "Anyways, can we go now?"

"What's he saying?" Olimar asked.

"He wants to know if we should go now." Alex translated.

"Oh! Yes, of course we can go now. Let's just take in our current surroundings now." Olimar said. The Captains looked around. Instead of being in an enclosed dirt area like in the sublevel before, they were now in a rusted, metallic place. It smelled faintly of gasoline and saw wood. It was a bit brighter then it was on the first sublevel, as everything was now open instead of enclosed. Right now, the group was at the end of a dead end, and the only way to go was forward. "Alright then," Olimar confirmed, "it looks like we're in a metallic area this time." Olimar, leading again, walked on to the only direction that they had an option with. Everyone else followed.

The leaders of Flare's Onion stayed close to Keith, since he was a Pikmin this time. They had only walked for a minute, when Poy told Keith,

"Y'know," he started, "this is where Hep and I were born."

"You were born in this cave?" Keith asked. He was also a bit surprised that Poy was actually being, well, _normal_ to Keith, and not trying to sabotage him in some way or another.

"Well, no. Not in _this_ cave," Poy responded, "but in another cave."

"Why were you and Hep born in a cave?"

"Wait... we haven't told you about how purple and white Pikmin were originally born, have we?" Poy asked, smirking. He was probably feeling good knowing that he knew yet another thing that Keith didn't know about.

"No. How were white and purple Pikmin originally born?" Keith asked.

"Well," Poy started, "it might surprise you, but I was originally a red Pikmin, and Hep was originally a blue Pikmin."

"Really!? But how-"

"I'm getting to that. Don't interrupt!" Poy snapped, "Aaaanyways, purple and white Pikmin were originally born in caves, by a large flower. I think Olimar called it... a Candypop Bud?"

_Odd name, _Keith immediately thought, _but Olimar seems to like being creative with his names, so I won't argue._ Poy continued,

"The ones in caves that Olimar found were purple and white. He found out that if he threw a Pikmin in the flower, they'll change color based on what color the flower is."

"Oh okay," Keith simply said, "but how did you guys manage to get your own Onion?"

"Well, before, we had to sleep in Olimar's ship because we didn't have an Onion. After he left, we adapted with the red, blue, and yellow Pikmin and created our own Onion."

_That, of course, still brings up the question as to how both the Pikmin from Flame and Flare's Onion helped the Captains, _Keith thought, _the Pikmin from both Onions don't know each other, but if they didn't, then how were both groups able to help Olimar? _Thinking about this made Keith's head hurt a bit. He decided that he would think about it more once he returned home.

"Everyone, stop!" Olimar said. He was looking at something over the rusted walls surrounding them, but Keith was too short to see what Olimar was looking at.

"What _is_ that?" Alph said.

"I don't think we've seen those before," Brittany said.

"I remember those," Olimar said, "those are Bulbmin!"

_Bulbmin?_ Keith thought. Keith tried jumping up to see what was over the metal wall, but he could only catch glimpses from what was over there. Keith decided to change back into a human to see better. When he changed back, his leg and feet still felt sore, but the pain wasn't as prominent as it was before. Keith walked/limped over to the wall where the Captains were looking over. Some of the winged Pikmin were looking over the wall too.

Keith could see them now. He could only see their dim silhouette, but it was clear what they looked like. They were in a place far, down below, and they looked exactly like bulborbs, except these bulborbs had a stem, sort of like a Pikmin stem, protruding out of its back. There was one large Bulbmin, and about 20 smaller ones following the large one. The Bulbmin haven't noticed the group yet.

"Louie and I encountered this species of Pikmin before," Olimar stated, "and we called them Bulbmin. They live primarily in caves. All we have to do is kill they're parent, and we'll be able to lead the Bulbmin! They're very useful, being able to withstand any elemental hazard."

_How come Olimar hasn't mentioned this before? _Keith thought. _And how come we have to kill their parent to obtain the Bulbmin? Seems a bit cruel..._

"Isn't there some way to negotiate with them? Y'know... without killing them?" Keith asked.

"Not that I know of." Olimar responded. "There's always room to try though, just be careful!"

"Okay." Keith said, nodding his head. Based on what Keith could see over the wall, Keith would have to make a few turns in the corridors metal maze to get to where the Bulbmin were staying.

"Uh, Keith? Do you want me to try?" Alex asked.

"I want to try this time." Keith responded, "If they really are a type of Pikmin, then I should be able to understand them."

Keith left the group, and began to work his way around the metal maze to the place where they had first seen the Bulbmin. After a few minutes, he reached the place where the Bulbmin were. They hadn't noticed Keith yet. Keith was a bit hesitant, but he quickly drew up some courage, and said,

"Hey!" The Bulbmin turned around, and they saw Keith. _Alright then. Don't botch this up, _Keith thought. He could see that Captains' antennas dangling down from the platform high above, watching.

"What do you want?" the parent said. Although Keith expected it, he was surprised to be able to understand the creature. Keith couldn't tell whether the voice was masculine or feminine. _At least that means it probably isn't the Plasm Wraith,_ Keith thought.

"Um... well, uh, we were wondering if we could use your help." Keith said.

"We?" the parent responded.

"Oh! Um, yeah there are others. There's me, five other leaders, and some Pikmin."

"And why should we help you?"

"Well, maybe-"

"All you've ever done is kill us off!" the parent retaliated, "I've heard of what you've done to our species. First, you kill off our elders, use our juveniles for your own needs, then abandon them without having any hope of surviving by themselves!"

_Wha... huh?_ Keith was confused now. Did Olimar really abuse the use of this species? It didn't seem like Olimar to do that...

"I-I'm sorry," Keith said, "I-I wasn't informed of this... but please! Can you just please help us? We need to find a friend who came down here!"

"A friend?" the Bulbmin parent asked.

"Y-Yeah! Have you seen him?" Keith asked desperately. The Bulbmin parent stayed quiet.

"Your friend... was he blue?" the Bulbmin parent soon said.

"Yes!"

"He came rushing down here hours ago. You should've been faster. He's **possessed**."

"**Possessed**?" Keith asked. The first thing that came to mind was a ghost haunting Louie. What did that have to do anything?

"It's an ability that the Shape-shifter uses."

"The Shape-shifter?" Now Keith was even more confused. He only knew of one thing that shape-shifted, but the Bulbmin wasn't talking about...

"You don't know of it?" the parent Bulbmin asked quietly, "it can turn into almost anything, deceive everyone. In it's true form, it's a golden color."

_Golden... the Plasm Wraith!? But... but..._ A slew of questions flew into Keith's head at that time. One question stood out though. Louie went insane during the nights between Day 13 and Day 14. If that was the case, how did the Plasm Wraith get onto the ship if the ship was high in the sky?

"...Well?" the Bulbmin parent asked.

"H-Huh?" Keith was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't hear what the Bulbmin parent had said.

"I said that we'll help you. Have you changed you mind already?"

"Oh, n-no! Thank you!"

"I'm not one to lend help. But in this case, I will. The Plasm Wraith is an enemy to everybody."

"Oh, okay! Guys!" Keith shouted upwards. "They'll help us! You can come down now!" Keith saw the Captains' antennas disappear from above. In a few moments, the Captains and the Pikmin came into the place where Keith and the Bulbmin were.

"We heard everything!" Alex said, "Well, _I_ heard everything, but I translated for them."

"Okay, thanks!" Keith said to Alex. He turned to the Bulbmin parent and asked it, "Do you know where the entrance to the next sublevel is from here?"

"It's not too far from here. Follow me, but if you do anything to the juveniles-"

"Don't worry. I promise we won't hurt you." Keith ensured. The Bulbmin parent still looked doubtful, but it continued to show them the entrance anyways. Within a few minutes, they came up to the entrance to the next sublevel.

"Here it is." the Bulbmin parent said, "I won't be able to follow you, but I'll send the juveniles with you."

"How will they be able to return?" Alex asked.

"They know their way around the cave. They should be able to find their way back to me when you find your friend. Just make sure nothing bad happens to them." Alex nodded.

"Oh! Do you know how many sublevels are in this cave?" Keith asked.

"Four." The Bulbmin parent responded, "You're on the second sublevel right now."

"Okay, thanks," Keith said.

The Captains and the group of Pikmin (which was now at a number of 160) looked at the cave entrance. They didn't waste any time in hesitation. They all quickly jumped into the entrance, as the Bulbmin parent watched nervously at it's juveniles disappear into the darkness.

* * *

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, Muscles, or Toxic. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though, and the other Pikmin from Flare's Onion.

**Note from Author: **I'll use the Bulbmin more in the next chapter. Other than that, don't really have much to say. As always, I would greatly appreciate reviews and criticism. Thank you!


	21. Day ? - Sublevel 3

**Day ? - Sublevel 3**

"Hey! Let me down!"

"But we wouldn't want you to break your leg a second time, now would we?"

Just as Keith was about to land on the ground, Ping and a few other winged Pikmin caught him just a few feet off the ground. Keith was grateful that they cared, but he was also a bit annoyed. He was _sure_ that he was going to land correctly this time. The winged Pikmin gently let him down. Keith saw that the others were watching him. Was that a snicker from Brittany? Keith turned red from embarrassment. He was glad that Ping and the others had saved him, but he didn't really like being babied in front of others.

"Um, so why didn't you catch them?" Keith asked.

"Well, you weren't very good at landing, but the others were, so..." Ping responded, not finishing her sentence, which was unlike her.

"What'd she say Keith?" Alph asked.

"Uh, nothing! Let's just move on..." Keith quickly said. Alph gave a quizzical look, but dismissed it. In truth. Keith just wanted to change the subject.

"So, where could we be now?" Charlie said quietly out loud. The others looked around too. What shocked Keith this time was that this sublevel seemed nothing like a cave at all. The floor was wooden, and the entire surrounding area was also wooden and colorful. It seemed like a... a toy room to Keith. It also wasn't pitch black like the first sublevel. Instead, the light, while still quite dim, provided just enough luminosity that Olimar almost didn't need his light bulb. As usual though, there were walls surrounding them in a maze-like design. These walls though seemed a bit... shorter than the ones on sublevel 2. These walls could be easily traversed by jumping over them.

"This doesn't seem like a cave at all..." Alex commented, voicing what everyone thought. Olimar, being the cave pro, once again seemed unfazed.

"All caves are like this," Olimar assured, "many times, there are things in cafes that you wouldn't expect at all! In fact..." Olimar talked on, but Keith wasn't really listening anymore. He was hearing something that he thought he should bring up.

"Guys, be quiet." Keith said. Soon, everyone went quiet.

Once they were quiet, the noises sounded terrible. It... it was a _multitude _of monsters that could be heard. Squeals, cries, roars, all sorts of monstrous sounds could be heard, and yet, they sounded distant. They could only hear the echoes of these cries. Keith strained his eyes in all directions, but he couldn't see any monster anywhere.

Suddenly Keith felt very unprotected. He was having that feeling where you feel as if someone's behind you, but you turn around and no one's there.

_The creepy feeling..._ Keith thought.

"Um... let's go find the exit. Like, _right now_." Brittany said nervously. Everyone else also felt chilled by hearing all these noises, but how there was no visible source that the noises were coming from. They seemed like they were coming from... everywhere.

"Alright then, let's go." Olimar stated, trying to sound confident, although Keith could hear the quiver of fear in his voice. They headed off in what Keith hoped was the right direction. At this point, Keith just wanted to find Louie, and escape _now_.

_That parent Bulbmin said that there were four sublevels. Maybe Louie is still on the third sublevel. _It was wishful thinking that Keith thought, but Keith desperately held on to that hope. _While we're here, maybe I should learn more about the Bulbmin._

Keith went up to one of the Bulbmin (_they're so small!_), and said, "Um, hi." The Bulbmin looked in Keith's direction.

"Hello!" the Bulbmin cheerfully replied back. Keith could tell that it was a male if he listened closely, but it was kind of hard to tell for sure if he wasn't listening closely.

"What's you name?" _I gotta start somewhere. _Keith thought, _I might as well ask what his name is._

"My... nay-im?" the Bulbmin unsteadily replied.

"Your name. Y'know, what you call yourself?"

"What I... call myself?"

"You... you guys don't have names!?" Keith exclaimed. At that, the Bulbmin began to uncontrollably cry.

"I-I d-d-don't what you're t-talking about! W-What's a naym!?" the Bulbmin whined. He simply plopped down and refused to go on. The Captains looked questioningly in Keith's direction. The Pikmin that were close to Keith though, looked accusingly at him.

"Shh! I'm sorry!" Keith quickly said, "I-I didn't know that you guys didn't have names. Please stop crying..." Keith begged. Eventually, the Bulbmin stopped, and he unsteadily stood back up.

"Keith, what's with the hold up!" Charlie asked with an annoyed tone.

"N-Nothing!" Keith yelled back, "just something with the Bulbmin..."

"Well, just make sure it doesn't happen again! Who knows what could have heard that?" Charlie accused.

"... Okay..." Keith quietly responded. The Captains slowly went back to walking on. Alex went to Keith though. He seemed interested in knowing something.

"So, what happened with the Bulbmin?" Alex asked as the group continued to walk forward.

"The Bulbmin don't have names," Keith replied, "and when I tried asking them, they uh... sort of broke down."

"Let me try talking to them." Alex said. He went up to the same Bulbmin that Keith upset, and simply said,

"Uh, hi there."

"What do you want!?" the Bulbmin retaliated, "I hate you! I hate all of you! You made me sad!"

_They act like five year olds..._ Keith thought to himself.

"No, wait! He didn't mean it." Alex quickly assured, "He was just unsure of how he was going to call you little guys. Like, you see that blue Pikmin over there?" Alex pointed to female Aqua, "Her name is Aqua, and that's what we call her whenever we need her."

"Ohhh!" the Bulbmin replied, "that's what you meant! Well, maybe you call me..."

"_AAAAHHHHH!_" That piercing scream cut off the Bulbmin. Keith looked in the direction of the scream, which was at the front of the group.

"Brittany! What happened to you?" Keith heard Alph say. Keith and Alex ran back up to the front of the group, and saw that Brittany was lying on her knees. Was she... crying?

"I... I saw..." Brittany couldn't go on though. "I... I don't remember!

Charlie tried lifting Brittany up, "Here, let me help you Bri-"

"No!" Brittany quickly said, pushing aside Charlie, "I-I'm fine. Let's just keep going." She lifted herself up, and walked on, "Well? C'mon! Let's just find Louie and get out of this stupid cave..." The group hesitantly followed.

"What was that all about?" "Is she crazy?" "Maybe she saw a ghost..." Keith could hear the Pikmin talking amongst themselves. Most of the conversations had a hint of confusion, but the atmosphere was thick.

Keith could feel the fear within the group. He took another glance at Brittany. She had the semblance of a person trying to be brave, but Keith could tell that something was bothering her.

_Grrraaaggghhhhrrrrr..._

The entire group froze. It wasn't a roar, but more like a sort of growl. It wasn't loud, but it was audible enough for the entire group to hear.

The question though, was where the growl came from, and from what. It sounded like it came from somewhere really close, but there didn't seem to be any sort of monster near the group.

"Let's quicken the pace. It feels like we've been in this sublevel forever." Olimar said anxiously.

"Go away, GO AWAY!" Charlie began to scream. He was clutching on to Alph, who gave him a confused look. "Get away from us! Just. Go. AWAY!"

"Charlie! What's gotten into you?" Olimar inquired. Eventually, Charlie calmed down, and released himself from Alph.

"Didn't all of you see it?" Charlie said, whipping his head to look around the group, almost maniacally, "A... A thing. It.. it looked like..." Charlie shook his head in confusion.

_Thing...? _Keith thought. The group looked around, but they couldn't see anything dangerous. Brittany, on the other hand, was beginning to hyperventilate.

_Just what is getting everyone on edge? _Keith closed his eyes, and let out a sigh. Everything just seemed confusing in this cave. Keith opened his eyes...

And screamed. He was so terrified, that he simply fell onto the floor and curled up into a ball. What he saw what so terrifying, that Keith couldn't bear to open his eyes again.

"Keith. Keith! What happened to you!?" "Get up!"

Keith could hear the multiple voices around him. Some were from the Captains, and some were from the Pikmin. Keith slowly sat up, still keeping his eyes closed.

"Keith?" Olimar said. Everyone was now quiet. "Can you open your eyes?" Keith slowly opened his eyes, and was relieved to see that the terror he had seen before was now gone.

"You saw it too? Didn't you Keith?" Brittany asked quietly.

"Y-Yeah." Keith responded.

"What did it look like?" Alex asked.

"It looked like..." _That's weird, _Keith thought, _I don't remember what it looks like!_ "I... I don't remember..." Keith quietly said.

"Nothing? Are you sure?" Alex asked, "What about shape? Basic appearance? Color?"

"Color...?" Keith asked. Keith thought hard about it...

And something suddenly clicked in his memories.

"The color!" Keith exclaimed, "I... I think it was a shiny yellow sort of color."

"The Plasm Wraith?" Olimar asked with uncertainty.

"But... but I don't remember that!" Brittany exclaimed, "Well, I _do_ remember something golden, but I also remember that there was another thing. That other thing was the thing that scared me, not the Wraith..."

"Let's just drop this, okay?" Keith snapped to the rest of the group, "I don't know why this is happening. Maybe the Wraith is just playing with is, but we need to find Louie, and get out of this cave _now_. This place is giving me the creeps..." The rest of the group slowly, but surely, agreed.

"Alright then. We'll be exploring at twice the pace now then." Olimar concluded, "and if anyone sees something... traumatic, then make sure to tell one of us right away." With that, Olimar looked forward, and walked on.

Keith hated the cave now. The darkness was suffocating, threatening to encase Keith in its pitch black coffin. The fear was eminent now. The entire group was dead silent, and everyone only had one thing on their minds: to get out of this cave ASAP.

"There! There there there!" Alph eagerly exclaimed, pointing to a faint silhouette just a few yards away. The group quickly ran up to the mound, and saw that it was, as the group hoped, an entrance.

To the last sublevel of this cave.

"Let's not waste any time in this blasted place." Charlie said angrily. He jumped into the hole, and was quickly followed by the rest of the group, everyone eager to escape the darkness of the toy room.

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**Disclaimer**: I do not own Pikmin and do not work with Nintendo of any kind. I also do not own Alex, Flame, Daisy, Aqua (female version), Rocky, Ariel, Muscles, or Toxic. Those characters belong to kingalex1234. I do own Keith though, and the other Pikmin from Flare's Onion.

**Note from Author**: I honestly don't know what to say about this chapter. Oh, and sorry kingalex, for not taking that suggestion you gave in your previous review! I wanted to add my own twist, but as you can see, I'm not really the best with caves... Anyways, reviews would be greatly appreciated as always, and I would also _greatly_ appreciate constructive criticism, so I can get better as a writer. Thanks for reading!


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